THE FOLLOWING REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS OF THE DISCUSSED FILM. READERS DISCRETION IS ADVISED.
In 2022, Writer/Director Ti West shocked the horror community with X, arguably the genre’s best of the year. With an instant impact like that, it was quick to make audiences wonder how could it ever be topped? He answered with a prequel he shot in secret.
PLOT
Pearl takes place in 1918 Texas and follows the titular young woman living with her domineering mother Ruth and unnamed paralyzed father during the influenza pandemic. With her husband Howard (Alistair Sewell) serving WWI, Pearl is insisted by Ruth to help take care of their farm. She longs to escape from her home and aspires to be a chorus girl, but aside from her mom's disapproval, it's proven that her chances are unlikely due to being highly disturbed of an individual. The proof is shown when she kills farm animals and physically abuses her father. When she goes into town to pick up medicine for him, she encounters a male projectionist from the movie theater who acts friendly towards her. Her decision to buy hard candy would lead to Ruth withholding her supper, in order to call out her carelessness. The next day, she would get a visit from her affluent sister in law Mitsy (Emma Jenkins-Purro) who tells her of a dancing audition for an upcoming travel troupe, which she sees as motivation to escape her circumstance. She would later sneak out at night and visits the projectionist again who shows her a stag film he acquired from France. As she watches it, he encourages her to pursue her dreams, which is difficult for her as she can't abandon her family. During another night of supper, Ruth confronts her daughter of a theater flyer which leads to Pearl admitting that she wants to attend the audition. She disapproves due to how she's aware that even if she succeeds, no one would accept the behavior she tries to hide. She would even call her out how satisfied she'd be better without them. The argument would then get physical, resulting in Pearl shoving her mother against the kitchen hearth, which would severely burn her body. She would then leave her to rot in the cellar and leave her dad in the kitchen before going back to the projectionist and have sex with him. When he drives her home the next morning, he would quickly become uncomfortable around her when noticing a now maggot-infested roast pig at the front door, which Ruth refused to accept from Howard's family. He would become even more unsettled when catching on to Pearl's inconsistencies. When he tries to leave, he would stab him with a pitchfork, out of rage of his decision to abandon her. She would dispose of him and his car by dumping it into a lake, where his body would be eaten by an alligator. After this, she would get dressed in one of Ruth's outfits and smother her dad to death on the way to the audition. She would perform a dance at the church hosting the said audition, but she would be devastated when they turn her down for not being young, nor having blonde hair or the X factor they were looking for. When Mitsy accompanied her home, she would confess of her resentment towards Howard: Pearl hates how he chose to leave his privileged background to live in the farm, admits to the relief she had when her child died in miscarriage and confessing of the joy she felt of the harm she causes, including the lives she's taken. Pearl would then manipulate Mitsy into confessing she won the audition, giving her the excuse to kill her with an axe, out of jealousy. After taking the life of her sister in law, she would dismember her body and feed it to the same gator who ate the projectionist. When her mother officially dies from her wounds, she would accept that she would have the best of what she has. This would inspire her to try do right by creating a home comfortable for Howard when he comes home. When he unexpectedly the next day, he would find himself in shock finding the bodies of her parents' bodies at the dining table, seated around the rotting pig. The film would end Pearl greeting her husband with a pained smile.
THOUGHTS
I was already impressed with what X had done, which only more hyped than before to check this out. It's definitely ambitious for a franchise to begin with two films in a single year, but West knew that so much had to be told in the world he created. Because this was a prequel, I knew how different it would be and because of that, that made me enjoy it more. Of course this movie has its fair share of references to X, like any franchise would with its predecessor, but what really made me enjoy this was the way West is able to create a new level of dread. With Eliot Rockett returning from X to do cinematography, he doesn't hesitate showing terror behind whatever glamour possible. Every death that is shown is shocking yet too intriguing to look away. Seeing this story unfold gives the chance to unveil the truth of obsession, the obsession one can gain when aspiring to be famous. It is a concept many people want so much they feel like they need it, making it hard to accept that no one is always lucky to do so. Our main character is someone who ends up learning the hard way and does not take it well. Of course Mia Goth was incredible in her dual performance in X, but she takes it to a whole other level in the singular outing of young Pearl. Seeing her front and center was the ultimate character study to show that she was deranged from the get go. You want to believe she's just misunderstood, but every second of her proves that's not the case. She was sheltered from all desires and it led to her acting irrationally, instead of thinking it over like she should've. She wants her life to be better than what she has rather than making due with it, which only drives her to be worse than she knows. She wants to think she's normal and can't fathom people know she isn't. No matter how determined she is, it just doesn't work for her. Her kitchen monologue is the most haunting part for me due to how after confessing of how comfortable she feels of the sins she's made, which would understandably drive away people that are actually innocent like Mitsy. The terror that monologue releases is all the more powerful due to its way to show a psychopath that is too powerless to change. Seeing her accept failure is the only time you feel bad for because you couldn't believe she had to go so far to do so when she never needed to. Even seeing that pig rot reflected how she was rotting inside as an individual. And just staring at her smile as the credits roll showed that she is willing to let people believe she is happy when she will not ever be, surrendering all the false hope she was carrying for so long. Of course if you're not feeling bad for this villain, you're definitely feeling bad for everyone that crossed her. The whole time, you don't hate Tandi Wright at all as Ruth when she acts so stern because she's in a predicament where she's got the right to in comparison to her daughter. As a German immigrant in WWI, she is naturally trying so hard to make the best of it and can't stand that her demented daughter refuses to do the same. When she goes off on her for the last time, you don't blame her at all because Pearl's selfishness pushed her to her own breaking point. Seeing what happened to her, you're definitely frowning whenever you see Pearl's dad because his condition can't even let him intervene. Matthew Sunderland sells the whole performance from the face alone as he showed how afraid he was of his surroundings. Even David Corenswet made the projectionist a decent guy because he was acting open minded and saw the false innocence Pearl had. Once she slowly showed her true colors, there was no way he was going to bare another second with her. When I look back at this movie and X, I start to wonder how the hell does Howard stick with Pearl as long as he did. Putting deep thought into it, it seems to me that once he saw how psychotic his wife was, his fear for her made him compelled to be there for her when no one else would. This devotion would prove how he would later lure victims to satisfy her bloodlust, thus only making her more sheltered than ever. Knowing all of this made it clear that Max put them both out of misery. For a movie that holds well on its own, it definitely disappointed me that there were moments that bothered me along the way. For example, I was so thrown off when Ruth claimed dancing to be selfish. I know she wants to minimize her daughter's distractions, but this is the one thing she should've tried being polite about. Considering how that is more harmless than killing a duck, she should've ignored it as a whole. And seriously, how did she find the flyer? If she's willing to admit she knows what her daughter does in private, she should've said how she found it? It ain't gonna hurt the audience to know if she was snooping where she hid it. I also think those auditions are so late in the game for coming to town in November when they could’ve come at least a month earlier to set up if not during the summer. I know Pearl isn't right in the head, but there were two instances where she could've been close to keeping her cover, as in not taking the scarecrow's hat and getting rid of the pig. I know there's meaning to the pig rotting, but if they weren't gonna eat it, she could've fed that to the gator as well. It’s also on the casting director to dismiss Pearl after her audition rather than before he didn’t want a brunette the whole time. Other than that, this is just as great as X. In conclusion, Pearl is a great movie on its own, living up to be an extraordinary origin story to behold that indeed leaves you shocked. If you're a horror fan, see this now whether or not you've seen X.
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