'Pearl' Review: She’s Back and Better Than Ever!
‘Pearl’ is an origin story that out-slashes its predecessor - the second instalment in what could be one of this decades’ best horror franchises.
For horror fans everywhere, the experience of a new franchise is exciting. From classic series like Friday the 13th and Nightmare on Elm Street to smaller, more niche collections like Candyman and the recent Fear Street – horror franchises are both popular and prevalent. While there are many solo horror movies released each year, sequels and additions to collections often generate more buzz, and therefore more tickets sold. This year saw the fifth addition of the Scream series, and later this year, the final Halloween film will be released, as well. Horror fans are well-fed with nostalgia, but when something new begins, it’s always a little more thrilling.
Earlier this year, audiences were treated to X, a slasher film centred around a group of aspiring porn stars and their crew, terrorized by Pearl, an elderly woman with a lot of explosive feelings. Now, Pearl joins this series as a prequel, and brings the viewer back to 1918 to watch the titular character’s origins as a farmer’s daughter striving for stardom. Director Ti West and star Mia Goth come together to make two of this year’s best horrors – the promising beginning of a new horror series. Just recently, the third addition, MaXXXine was confirmed to be in production – and if that does well, who knows how far this universe can expand?
Pearl is in a unique position – a prequel released just months after the first film’s release – but it pulls it off very well. It’s an interesting choice to follow the antagonist in a horror movie, and can be a bit risky without the mystery of the culprit identity and what their next move might be. However, Pearl isn’t the first film to do this, and with X fuelling fans’ curiosity about the character, it doesn’t hinder the film, and actually adds to the fun. There’s no final girl here, unless, of course, you count blood-thirsty Pearl.
Mia Goth is a force to be reckoned with. She’s been steadily growing in popularity, especially after her roles in Emma and Luca Guadagnino’s remake of Suspiria, but this series has given her a real chance to shine. She’s not afraid to let go in Pearl, convincing the viewer that she really is Pearl, and she’s meant to be a star. If genre films didn’t typically get neglected at the big awards shows like the Oscars and the BAFTAs, Goth might just have been a front-runner for best actress. Her performance is highly entertaining and reaches highs, lows, and in-betweens so naturally. Hopefully she gets the opportunity to return in the next instalment of this franchise.
The film never takes itself too seriously, and just has a fun time with itself and with the audience. The racy content in X isn’t forgotten here, and despite it being 1918, porn finds a way to impact the titular character just as it did in the first film. Pearl (Goth) is willing to do whatever it takes to reach stardom, or maybe just pass the audition for a dance troupe at her local church. She goes from begging to using sex appeal to resorting to violence, all contained within a fast-paced plot that keeps the viewer hooked and maybe a little slack-jawed.
The cast is small, which fits the plot very well and adds to not only the plausibility of Pearl’s massacre but the isolation she feels. Goth is joined by Tandi Wright and Matthew Sunderland, who, respectively, play her farmer mother and infirm father. David Corenswet plays ‘The Projectionist’, perfectly unnamed – fitting for his role in the story. Emma Jenkins-Purro plays Mitzy, Pearl’s unassuming, well-off sister-in-law and Alistair Sewell plays Howard, absent husband of Pearl. This film is majorly a character study, with every scene centred on Pearl herself, but Goth’s co-stars give it their all, keeping up with her but letting Pearl have the spotlight she needs for this story.
The story starts off with a simple premise – Pearl is a young woman newly married and sick of life on the farm she grew up on. She dreams of stardom and sneaks away to see films playing in town, buying tickets with the few cents she has left over from errands. However, the viewer begins to squirm when they watch Pearl’s mannerisms and how she treats the people around her. Her relationship with her mother is volatile, she lacks boundaries with her paralyzed father, and she feels no loyalty toward her solider husband. The way she treats the animals on the farm alone is enough to plant a seed of dread in a viewer’s stomach, and that seed just continues to grow.
The film is very reminiscent of old Hollywood, with certain dream sequences paying homage to some classics like The Wizard of Oz and Mary Poppins. Even the opening and closing credits borrow from classic cinema, with familiar fonts and styles reminding the viewer of Hollywood-era films they know and love. The costumes and dances take the viewer along with Pearl, right out of rural Texas and onto the set of her dreams.
The set design and editing are fantastic – this film is clearly a passion project for West, and it’s a delight to watch. Pearl’s imagination is displayed so clearly yet seamlessly, and keeps the viewer immersed in the story even as she, herself, starts to lose her grip on reality.
Pearl is an unhinged character that a lot of people may relate to – she is so passionate and desperate to prove herself it completely overwhelms her, and while (hopefully) nobody would go as far as she did, the need to be seen and feel special is not uncommon. Her painful fear of not being unique and just being doomed to live a plain, ordinary life is so real.
This film would be best enjoyed in a busy theatre, surrounded by fellow horror lovers and friends, so watch it as soon as you can. MaXXXine can’t come soon enough – and hopefully, Pearl hasn’t taken her final bow just yet.