Sightlines · reception
How Pearl was received
2022 · Ti West · Pearl on Sightlines
The arc
Premiered at Venice just six months after X — the surprise prequel nobody knew existed — and almost immediately overtook its parent film in fan affection; by the time MaXXXine landed to shrugs, Pearl had been settled on as the trilogy's crown jewel.
What’s debated
The evergreen fight is Mia Goth's Best Actress Oscar snub — Exhibit A in every 'the Academy ignores horror' thread — alongside the eternal Pearl-vs-X ranking wars.
Its footprint
'Please... I'm a star!' and that unbroken smile held through the entire end credits became instant meme currency — the red-dress-and-axe look is now a Halloween costume staple and the smile GIF a Letterboxd reaction of choice.
Where it stands
A Letterboxd darling and modern A24-era horror canon entry — the rare prequel fans rank above the original.
Did you know? Ti West and Mia Goth wrote Pearl during New Zealand's COVID quarantine and shot it in secret back-to-back with X — its existence was only revealed as a surprise at X's SXSW premiere. Martin Scorsese later said the film left him so unsettled he had trouble going to sleep.
Named by the director
- The Wizard of Oz (1939) — West cited its Technicolor storybook look as the visual template Pearl warps into horror.
- Douglas Sirk — West pointed to Sirk's lush Golden Age melodramas as the register Pearl plays in before curdling.