AT THE MOVIES

by Isy Jordan

Pearl
Director: Ti West
Starring: Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Emma Jenkins-Purro, Alistair Sewell, Matthew Sunderland, Tandi Wright, and more.


Backstory on how Pearl became the person she was.

Earlier this year, we got the stunning new horror film X. In the same year, which is incredibly rare, we got its prequel Pearl. While it's not necessary to see the first film to get this one, this one makes X so much better and more meaningful.

The films are very different in style and tone. Where X plays like a 70s porno-turned-nightmare, Pearl is something else. It's like The Wizard of Oz with pitchfork murders, gaslighting, and vanquished dreams.

The final girl in X is played by Mia Goth. The antagonist of the first film is an old woman named Pearl also played by Goth. In Peal, we go back to 1918 to see a young Pearl whose husband is off fighting in WWI and trying to help her mother with the farm and her invalid father who barely survived the Spanish Flu.

Is she a selfless loving daughter? Not exactly. She's lonely, yearning to be anywhere but the farm, and dreaming of being a dancer in the movies. At first, you feel bad for Pearl because of how harshly her mother treats here. Before long, you realize that there is more to Pearl than meets the eye and not all her dreams are of being famous and loved.

Pearl is unlike any other horror film I've ever seen. It's colorful, easy to follow, and graphically violent. By the end you understand Pearl much better but by then, there's a lot of damage done. Goth is amazing as this ruthless, unstable young woman and she helped write the story. The supporting cast was mostly unknown to me which made the film even better. THe callbacks to the first movie were subtle but very appreciated.

The film is an hour and 43 minutes and length and rated R. The violence here will be unsettling for some. There's murder, blood and gore. There are also disturbing images from the mind of the unstable titular character.

True horror fans will appreciate the film. I highly recommend it.

Isy