Ti West is returning to the gory world of “ X” with “Pearl,” a prequel to his 2022 slasher from A24.
The upcoming horror film, once again directed and written by West, is set to follow Mia Goth‘s character Pearl from “X.” Pearl is disturbed and murderous old woman in the original film, and the new prequel is set to follow a younger version of the character. The new film marks the first signs of an “X” franchise, an unexpected, yet welcome, move from A24 and West.
“I’m trying to build a world out of all this, like people do these days,” West previously said in an interview with IndieWire. “You can’t make a slasher movie without a bunch of sequels.”
In “X,” West follows the journey of a young amateur filmmaking team shooting a porno movie in rural Texas. Suddenly, production is interrupted in bloody fashion by the murderous approaches of the elderly couple who live on the land. The cast includes Goth, Jenna Ortega, Brittany Snow and Scott Mescudi (better known as Kid Cudi).
The film takes heavy inspiration from 1974 horror classic “The Texas Chainsaw Massacre” from director Tobe Hooper. Variety chief film critic Owen Gleiberman praised West’s remix of the classic film, saying it is “an imitation with a difference.”
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“For one thing, it could hardly be more upfront about its son-of-“Chain Saw” atmosphere — which is to say it’s a deliberate, loving, and meticulous homage that isn’t simply trying to cash in on the legacy of the greatest horror film of the last half century,” Gleiberman writes.
Watch the full trailer for “Pearl” below.
