MaXXXine (2024) review

This follow-up to 2022's X has adult film star/stripper Maxine Minx (Mia Goth), who's mildly unnerved by previous events, trying become a legitimate actress in Los Angeles: she auditions for a role in horror sequel The Puritan II that's directed by British filmmaker Elizabeth Bender (Elizabeth Debicki) but she's also being followed by private investigator John Labat (Kevin Bacon), a serial killer who goes by "The Night Stalker" has been killing off her colleagues and detectives Williams (Michelle Monaghan) and Torres (Bobby Cannavale) want to question her.  Since it takes place in 1985, the main "targets" are "puritanical" individuals and their "anti-smut" protests even though they're quite easy to mock (the victims are branded with a pentagram) and the rest is mostly West mindlessly digging through Hollywood archives: a good chunk of it is shot on a studio backlot (it re-uses the set for the Bates Motel), Bacon's done up like Jake from Chinatown (complete with a nose bandage) and a would-be assailant is wearing a Buster Keaton outfit (and eventually gets his privates smashed in).  Aside from Goth as the defiant lead, the majority of this fails to be stirring and the finale is weak, as it brings up Daddy Issues ... although those "old feelings" are (presumably) taken care of with a shotgun blast and then some "therapeutic" snorts of cocaine.