Pearl Reviews

Director Ti West is back, this time with a prequel to his horror flick X. It stars Mia Goth, who also wrote the screenplay based on West's characters, as the title character Pearl. Presented as an origin story for the killer in X, the film is just as offbeat, campy, and good as its predecessor.Pearl (Goth) is a teenager who longs for fame as a dancer. She feels trapped - a pandemic rages across the country, her husband Howard is off fighting in World War I, and her domineering mother insists that she take care of the farm animals and her invalid father. It's enough to drive a girl insane - and that's precisely what happens. While remaining cool and calculated on the outside, Pearl is unraveling on the inside. It isn't long before her repressed psychopathic desires manifest themselves. She's determined to have the life she dreams of and will no longer let anyone stand in the way of that goal.X was set in the 1970s and had a feel of the horror films of that decade. This film is set in 1918 but has a sense of 1960s horror to it - the period when more graphic movies were starting to be made. As such, it is a combination of two of that decade's most important horror influences: Hammer Films and Herschell Gordon Lewis (whose Blood Feast is considered to be the first splatter film). West and Goth work well together to make this an incredible tribute to them, including almost psychedelic moments, unnerving surprises, and disturbing facial expressions and close-ups. Goth's portrayal of a narcissistic psychopath who loses control of her urges is chilling and unforgettable. The sets and settings are the same as X, although the home is in much better shape. Audiences will recognize all the essential locations, making this not only a prequel of Pearl but of the property itself, as well. The house's interior is lovely but also unnerving despite pristine wallpaper. There are a few in-town scenes with careful attention to the period for interior and exterior locations. Like X, there isn't anything supernatural to this film, yet it maintains a sense of something otherworldly. Goth and West are working well together to build the foundation of something different in the horror field, from the foundations of long-standing subgenres. While some moviegoers may find this undertaking to be an empty oyster, most horror fans will see this for the rare gemstone that it is.