MaXXXine director on crafting ending: ‘I wanted to wrap up the trilogy’

Of course, it doesn't take long for matters to be complicated by the presence of a looming serial killer, and following a slew of increasingly gory deaths she soon makes a startling discover about who is behind this latest spate of violence.

Speaking to RadioTimes.com about the latest film ahead of the release, West explained that although he thinks each of the three films worked as standalone features he also wanted to craft an ending that would provide a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy as a whole.

"I think it was interesting making this film, knowing that it was part three and knowing that people were kind of expecting it," he explained. "Because the other two we made at the same time. There's a little bit more, I don't know if pressure is the right word, but like self-awareness while you're doing it.

"And I did want it to be a standalone movie that it felt like it had its own ending. But I also wanted to sort of wrap up the thematic... or the vibe, I should say, of the trilogy as a whole. And so, you know, I felt pretty good about it by the time I put it down."

With each of the films having a very distinct style inspired by different periods of Hollywood history, there is sure to be debate among fans as to which of the best of the trilogy – with cinemagoers already fairly divided as to whether they prefer X or Pearl.

And West says that watching those debates is one of the most rewarding things about having made the trilogy – even though he hopes viewers will like all of them equally.

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"I think that's the fun of the trilogy," he said. "And for me, that's kind of the satisfaction of making something where, you know, we've made these two sequels. And they're very different from one another.

"And so, you know, there's plenty of people that I see argue online, or something, about how X is so much better than Pearl or people like, 'You're crazy, Pearl is so much better than X.' And I'm sure people will say the same thing about MaXXXine.

"Or, you know, 'This one's terrible, that one's great.' I mean, that's kind of the fun discourse... I mean, of course, I would love for everyone to like them all very much. Because it's always nice to have people like things. But there's something fun about it... there being a little bit for everybody in each of the movies."

He continued: "And I think the movies complement each other. I don't think you need to see each movie to appreciate the other one, I think they enrich each other.

"It's better as a whole to see what I'm up to if you watch all three, but if many months or many years from now, one of these movies pops on TV and you find yourself keep watching, because you're just like, 'Oh, right. I haven't seen this in a while. I want to wait till that scene or I want to see part of it.' That would be very satisfying to me."

MaXXXine is now playing in UK cinemas.

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