‘Pearl’ Review (Venice Film Festival 2022): Ti West’s Horror Prequel Improves Upon Its Predecessor ‘X’

Ti West stunned viewers at the SXSW premiere of his ’70-set slasher flick X by revealing that he’d already shot a prequel. That film, Pearl, imagines the origins of the X’s elderly villain (played by Mia Goth – also the film’s final girl hero – in heavy makeup). As it turns out, the old woman who wreaked havoc on the set of a would-be porn film once had lofty artistic ambitions of her own in the silent film era. West’s exploration of her dangerous descent into utter delusion is the rare prequel that manages to improve upon the original work.

It helps that Pearl is a much more audacious genre riff to begin with, pulling from less conventional sources of horror fodder ranging from The Wizard of Oz to Douglas Sirk’s luscious Technicolor melodramas. How many riffs on The Texas Chain Saw Massacre like X have horror fans endured? Too many to count. Pearl’s potent pastiche of a woman’s weepie with a slow-burning slasher feels fresh and exciting to watch unfold.

It’s so different from its preceding film, in fact, that watching X is not even a prerequisite to enjoying Pearl. This glimmering Technicolor world of the Great War and Spanish Influenza shares a key character and rural Texas setting with its grimy forebearer set in the Carter era, but that’s about it apart from some cringy winks to the titular letter. Their stories rhyme without repeating. Pearl provides a riveting, singular look at its protagonist’s breakdown by foregrounding the character study ahead of any genre elements.

The roots of Pearl’s terrifying transformation are apparent from the opening credits, yet it takes more disappointment and disillusionment for her murderous malevolence to fully blossom. Her sweat and tears water the seed of resentment. Pearl spends her days tending to the animals on her family’s farm and any other time caring for her catatonic father (Matthew Sunderland) – all under the severe, watchful eye of her mother Ruth (Tandi Wright). The pastoral matriarch is of a different generational mindset entirely, and she’s neither able to understand nor tolerate her daughter’s prioritization of desire of duty.

It’s no wonder Pearl looks to the arts for escape as a first-generation German-American awaiting the return of her husband from war (where he fights against her home country, to boot). She finds refuge by sneaking away to a movie theater where she meets a beguiling projectionist (David Corenswet). This nameless man encourages her performing ambitions and introduces her to the illicit French “stag” film, the primitive origin of modern pornography, that then illuminates some of the aged incarnation of Pearl’s draw to the crew in X.

Still, his piqued interest won’t deter her from the visible escape hatch on the horizon: an audition for a slot in a traveling dance company. Simply practicing her craft is not sufficient for Pearl. She seeks the recognition and adulation she cannot receive from her family. She wants to be a star, so much so that she’ll pray for it – and then go to even more extreme ends when divine intervention does not break her way.

That Pearl’s breakdown from victim to villain is both startling and scary may be due in part to Mia Goth’s increased participation. On her second film with Ti West, Goth also receives credit as co-writer and executive producer. Pearl gives Goth the spotlight that her character so desperately desires, and she seizes the moment with vigor and voraciousness. Goth tears through both a monologue and extended final shot in which the character begs for sympathy – yet inspire awe and fear from the audience.

Goth executes maximalism masterfully, fitting right in with the radiant reds and bedazzling blues of Pearl’s color palette. On the rare occasion she overdoes it, the moment rolls up neatly into the film’s queasy sense of humor. Ti West has quite a taste for the macabre, and it’s always a pleasant surprise when those sensibilities flare up at an unexpected moment. (The wild reaction shots of Pearl’s father to her increasingly unhinged antics are a real highlight.) As eclectic as it is electric, Pearl glistens as a horror prequel worth the expansion of the original film.

Pearl world premiered at the 2022 Venice Film Festival. It will be released theatrically by A24 on September 16, 2022, with a digital debut to follow.

Marshall Shaffer is a New York-based freelance film journalist. In addition to Decider, his work has also appeared on Slashfilm, Slant, Little White Lies and many other outlets. Some day soon, everyone will realize how right he is about Spring Breakers.