2022 has been a good year for horror, and it’s not even over yet. So far, one of the biggest genre films has been the critically acclaimed Ti West slasher X. The film stars Mia Goth (Emma, 2020), Jenna Ortega (Scream, 2022), Martin Henderson (Virgin River, 2019-), Brittany Snow (Someone Great, 2019), Owen Campbell (Body Brokers, 2021), Stephen Ure (Mortal Engines, 2018), and Scott Mescudi -- otherwise known as Kid Cudi (Don’t Look Up, 2021).
X follows a group as they make an adult film on a rural farm in Texas in the '70s. However, they soon find themselves the targets of the farm’s elderly owners' rage as, one by one, they meet a grisly fate.
The movie was filmed in New Zealand and directed and written by Ti West, who is known for his previous films The Sacrament (2013) and In a Valley of Violence (2016). It was released in March of this year and was met with rave reviews from audiences and critics alike, praising its homages to 20th-century slasher films and the performances by its actresses. Little did people know that a prequel titled Pearl was secretly shot back-to-back with X.
Pearl: The Plot
The film is set during World War I in 1918 and will showcase the origins of the once young Pearl, the elderly villain of X. The official synopsis reads:
“Feeling trapped at the isolated family farm, Pearl is tasked with attending to her ailing comatose father, while under the harsh micromanagement of her cruel mother. Lusting after the glamorous life she has seen depicted in the movies, a collision of her ambitions, temptations, and repressions arrive creating the villain she feared she would become.”
The events will take place in the cabin featured in X, which was once a boarding house during the war.
Pearl: The Cast & Crew
The cast of the film is just as stacked as its predecessor. Along with returning Mia Goth, who previously in X played both final girl Max and elderly villainess Pearl, the cast will include David Corenswet (Hollywood, 2020), Tandi Wright (The Returned, 2011-2014), Matthew Sunderland (The Stranger, 2022), and Emma Jenkins-Purro (The Brokenwood Mysteries, 2021). Goth also lent her talent to writing the prequel alongside West, but they weren’t sure if it would be made.
Goth told the LA Times in an interview:
“We didn’t know what was going to happen, “ . “We thought at the very least, if nothing comes of it, we’ll write the script and it can serve as a great backstory for Pearl and my grasp on the character.”
West chimed in that making Pearl was essentially a shot in the dark and that his “plan was to write it…and see if I can convince A24 that we should make two movies.” West also served as editor and a producer for the film. Producing alongside him are Jacob Jaffke (Bodies, Bodies, Bodies, 2022), Kevin Turen (The Unbearable Weight of Massive Talent, 2022), and Harrison Kreiss (Euphoria, 2019-). The film is also produced by production company A24 and Little Lamb Productions.
A24 is known for its independent movies and series. They’ve also had their hands in multiple horror films, like The Witch (2016), It Comes at Night (2017), Hereditary (2018), Midsommar (2019), Lamb (2021), and most recently, Men (2022). So, needless to say, they know a thing or two about horror.
Pearl: Release Date
The film will have its world premiere at the 79th Venice International Film Festival in September of this year. It will have its theatrical release on September 16, 2022.
Pearl: Everything Else
The upcoming prequel isn’t the only thing in the works for writer-director West. He also announced in 2022 that he was working on a script for the third film, set chronologically after the events of X. West said that the film, like the previous, will have individual, unique cinematography, telling Bloody Disgusting:
"In the way X is affected, let’s say by 1970s horror independent filmmaking and Americana cinema, Pearl is influenced by a very different era of filmmaking…[and the third one] will be affected by a different type of cinema.”
Pearl will have a cinematic style similar to that of the melodramatic and Technicolor films, like Mary Poppins, of the time.
The possible sequel will explore the continued idea of how cinema influences society. West will show how home video releases changed life for many. In an interview with Indiewire, he said he is “trying to build a world out of all this, like people do these days,” no doubt referring to the many popular hero sagas and franchises. However, the writer did emphasize that he also wanted to make films that could be watched independently as well as part of a whole, so they “complement each other” without relying on each other. To finish discussing his plans for future films, the director said, “You can’t make a slasher movie without a bunch of sequels.”