44 Years Later, Kevin Bacon's 2024 Horror Risks Creating A Paradox With His $60 Million Slasher Franchise

Summary

• The third movie in Ti West's X trilogy is slated for release in July.
• The movie follows massacre survivor Maxine Minx as she fights to make it big in Hollywood.
• The fact that the MaXXXine makes references to classic horror might cause a paradox, given its casting.

In 2022, horror director Ti West released his homage to the slasher films of the past, simply titled X. The first of a trilogy, X was a critical and box office hit. Now the trilogy is about to be completed with a number of big-name actors, including Kevin Bacon – in a role that may create an in-universe paradox.

The Trilogy Kicks Off

2022's X takes place in 1979, and follows aspiring film producer Wayne Gilroy (Martin Henderson) and his much younger girlfriend Maxine (Mia Goth) who dreams of being a movie star. Along with a small crew, Gilroy rents out a building on a farm run by an elderly couple, not telling them that they are making a pornographic feature.

When elderly farmower Pearl (also played by Mia Goth) is drawn to Maxine's resemblance to her younger self, she is reminded of her lost youth and her own dreams of superstardom. Pearl soon kicks off a bloody massacre at the farm, with the members of the film shoot trying to survive the old woman's rampage.

Much of the movie is an homage to the classic slashers of the 1970s, and it wears its Texas Chainsaw influences on its sleeve.

X was made on a tiny budget of $1 million, but grossed $15 million at the box office. It also earned rave reviews, and currently holds an impressive 94% on Rotten Tomatoes.

Pearl's Prequel

X was swiftly followed up with Pearl: An X-traordinary Origin Story. While X is clearly winking at 70's slashers, Pearl's references are more in line with the birth of Technicolor and the Wizard of Oz.

Here we get the origin story of Pearl, who in 1918 is obsessed with movies and getting her chance at stardom. Pearl's oppressive homelife and frustrated ambitions slowly morph her from a young woman with stars in her eyes into a violent killer.

Like X before it, Pearl was filmed on a tiny budget of $1 million, but recouped $10 million at the box office. It holds a Rotten Tomatoes score of 93%, with critics particularly enamored with Mia Goth's performance as the young Pearl.

What's Kevin Bacon Got To Do With It?

Okay, we hear you saying, but what's all this got to do with Kevin Bacon?

A third installment of the X trilogy is coming our way. MaXXXine takes place six years after the events of X, with the sole survivor of the farm massacre, Max, now a big name in adult entertainment and trying to make it as a regular movie star.

MaXXXine takes place in real-life 1985 Los Angeles, where the Night Stalker is on the loose and Back To The Future is about to make it big. Max is auditioning for a horror movie, and defends this choice when talking to a friend. Max challenges him to name five movie stars who got their start in horror movies, and the friend reels off, 'Jamie Lee Curtis, John Travolta, Demi Moore, Brooke Shields, and —' Max interrupts and inserts her own name into the list.

Who else was made famous in big name horror movies back then? None other than Kevin Bacon, who starred in Friday the 13th. Given that MaXXXine takes place in the real world, and horror movies play a big part in Max's life, her mind might be blown when she meets a private investigator played by… Kevin Bacon.

MaXXXine looks to be a movie steeped in pop culture, so we look forward to seeing if and how they choose to play this paradox off.

MaXXXine will hit theatres in July of 2024.