A24 Gets Meta in Latest ‘MaXXXine’ Trailer | Video

“MaXXXine” is nearly here.

The final film in A24’s “X” trilogy arrives on July 5, and a new trailer highlights the movie’s more meta dimension. You can watch it above.

In “MaXXXine,” the title character, played by Mia Goth and last seen in 2022’s “X,” has moved to Los Angeles 1985 Los Angeles. It’s there that she continues her rise in the adult film industry and attempts to not be murdered by the serial killer known as the Night Stalker. Michelle Monaghan and Bobby Cannavale play LAPD agents, Kevin Bacon is a seedy private detective who knows about her past, Elizabeth Debicki is a legitimate film director and Moses Sumney and Halsey are her BFFs. The cast also includes Giancarlo Esposito and Lily Collins.

This latest trailer is emphasizing the more meta qualities of “MaXXXine,” from starting with a trailer for a fake movie that looks an awful lot like “The Witch,” one of A24’s breakout horror movies. (The fake movie is called “The Puritan II;” making it a sequel adds even more self-awareness.) Then we get some glimpses of “MaXXXine,” including who is presumably the killer getting turned on at a strip show (channeling imagery closely associated with Italian horror films and western films like “Dressed to Kill” and “Cruising”) and a splash of blood that coats a stack of VHS tapes.

The first “X,” written, directed and produced by Ti West, was a welcome throwback to the hillbilly horror of movies like Tobe Hooper’s “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.” It followed a group of 1970s pornographers (Maxine included), who go to make a new feature at a remote Texas farm. Soon, they are picked off one by one by the elderly owners of the farm. “X” was followed quickly by “Pearl,” also released in 2022, which changed gears dramatically. For one, it was a prequel set at the end of World War I and follows the title character, the old woman that menaces Maxine in “X.” It channeled the widescreen musicals of the era. And each movie enhanced the other.

West returns for “MaXXXine,” writing, directing, producing and editing the new film.

“MaXXXine” hits theaters on July 5.

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