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Pearl Movie Review

Pearl is a 2022 psychological slasher film directed by Ti West and starring Mia Goth. It is a very memorable, satisfactory prequel.

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“It’s not about what I want anymore, Mitsy.

It’s about making the best of what I have“

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Trapped on an isolated farm, Pearl must tend to her ailing father under the watch of her mother. Lusting for the glamorous life she’s seen in movies, Pearl’s temptations and repressions collide, leading to horrifying crimes. This movie is the second in a trilogy of horror films made by Ti West. The third flick is yet to come out, but all three will be released within a year, which is truly an unprecedented achievement.

This is the type of cinematic universe that I am looking forward to exploring more. ‘X’ was terrific and hugely entertaining while Pearl is an entirely different beast of its own. The original was set in the seventies and it resembled the slashers from that decade while this movie in its style favors Technicolor and Disney movies from the Golden Age of Hollywood. It is a horror take on those colorful classics while also being definitely reminiscent of melodramas, especially from the fifties.

As such, Pearl very much felt like a drama movie at times, especially in the first half. The second half became gruesome and terrifying, even more so than its predecessor, which firmly puts it within the slasher genre, but again it’s a different take on the formula for better and for worse. I appreciated its exploration of mental illness and just how dangerous these individuals can be to society if they are left unchecked. The depiction of Pearl’s unstable psyche was quite compelling and realistic, thus being all the more disturbing.

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My issue with this more dramatic indie approach to horror storytelling stems from those artistic choices that to me felt obvious. While the bright lighting and lush cinematography did work in the context of this story, the final sequence felt too similar to many other movies released in recent memory.

The monologue that Pearl gives in the final sequence felt never-ending and it should have been cut in half. Another problem is the end-credits sequence where the credits roll while Mia Goth is smiling awkwardly and erratically. It was well executed, but again this stylistic choice has become a cliché by now and I wish the film was more original in that regard.

There is also an issue of a major plot hole that never got resolved in the final product. Yes, she is living in a rather isolated farm, but there is no chance in hell that the police would not come searching for those missing people. That element felt too clumsy to me. But otherwise I appreciated the structure of the film that starts off very slow and then escalates to become a terrifying, grotesque slasher that is bloody and disgusting, but definitely memorable and psychologically complex.

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The emphasis on filmmaking was once again terrific and seeing the early pornographic pictures was also quite intriguing. Pearl’s take on the early auditions for silent movies was quite interesting while the score is pleasantly classical and fitting the time period at hand. The directing from Ti West is excellent while the performance from Mia Goth is truly outstanding as she entirely escapes into the role of a truly deranged woman. The dialogue that she gets is also powerful and quite effective, though again too extensive.