Movie review
July 4, 2024 · 103 min · R
Woke Score
Lower is better
Breakdown
These are the editorial factors and ratings behind our score for MaXXXine.
Woke representation / casting
Supporting roles include actors of color in period-appropriate Hollywood positions; no visible identity signaling, race or gender swaps, or quota-style emphasis in marketing or reviews.
Woke political dialogue
Conversations focus on personal ambition, past trauma, and industry survival; period mentions of moral debates exist but contain no modern activist language or lectures.
Identity-driven story themes
Maxine’s drive as a woman moving from porn to mainstream and her survival instincts receive some attention, yet these elements remain personal and horror-focused rather than ideological.
Western institutional / cultural critique
The film shows 1980s conservative moral majority protests and satanic panic as hysterical period color that opposes the horror production; this serves historical atmosphere and genre context without reframing into present-day critiques of patriarchy, Christianity, or Western norms.
Review
MaXXXine follows adult film star Maxine Minx in 1985 Hollywood as she lands her first mainstream horror movie role while a private detective from her past and a mysterious killer target people around her. The story mixes slasher violence with ambition, fame, and the gritty side of the entertainment world set against real 1980s events like the Night Stalker murders and moral panic over sex and violence in media. Light notes on industry pressures for women appear in passing but stay secondary to the horror plot and period style with no strong identity-driven or activist messaging.
Woke character or canon changes
Not relevant
Anti-woke backlash and complaints
No documented right-leaning complaints accuse the film of pushing woke, DEI, or identity-politics messaging.
Creator track record context
Core team led by low-scoring Ti West and producers maintains a consistent genre-only focus with no activist pattern across careers.
Production
