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Canada, United States · 2022
1h 40m
Director Ti West
Starring Mia Goth, David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Emma Jenkins-Purro
Genre Horror, Mystery, Thriller
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Pearl and her overbearing mother and ailing father are living on an isolated farm during the 1918 flu pandemic. She dreams of going to Hollywood to become a movie star, and goes to drastic measures to make her fantasy a reality.
The Hollywood Reporter by David Rooney
As a cleverly packaged pandemic production with narrative echoes of that global anxiety, it’s at the very least something fresh. A gruesome portrait of another young woman hungering for a life greater than the fate she’s been handed, it makes an amusing companion piece to X.
Flimsy logic notwithstanding, Pearl is the superior of the two heavily-stylized slashers, partly because it dedicates so much time to building the eponymous antiheroine from the ground up.
Clever, violent, and wicked, with a fabulously unhinged turn from Goth, West’s period psycho tale truly does have the X Factor.
It’s an impressive feat of filmmaking, but one that reveals nothing new, a major misstep for a film seemingly dedicated to doing just that.
The Guardian by Peter Bradshaw
The film itself is terrifically accomplished and horribly gripping, with golden-age movie pastiche and dashes of Psycho and The Wizard of Oz.
Its distinctive look and oddly appealing antihero (picture Norman Bates as Shelley Duvall might have played him) could actually make this the more popular of the two films.
The Telegraph by Robbie Collin
In her first outright lead role Goth is straightforwardly tremendous, and gets to move through the considerable breadth of her talent even within individual shots.
This new instalment stands on its own unsettlingly odd merits.
Pearl isn’t just great; it retroactively makes its predecessor great, too. It’s a handsome and sad horror drama, with scenes and shots and performances that will make you wonder if you’re supposed to laugh, cry or shriek. Until you realize that the best part of this film is that you are absolutely supposed to do all three. And you probably will.
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Please login to add films to your watchlist.
A family is held hostage and forced to play a series of sadistic and deadly games
An awkward office drone becomes increasingly unhinged after a charismatic and confident look-alike takes a job at his workplace.
A 20-year-old Swede comes to Los Angeles to be the next big porn star.
A couple on vacation venture outside the resort grounds and find themselves in a world of horror.
An acclaimed journalist-turned-documentarian goes on an oneiric introspective journey to reconcile with the past, the present, and his Mexican identity.
A pornographic film crew encounter horrors while trying to film at a Texas farm in 1979.
Love blossoms between a young woman and a drifter as they embark on a 3,000-mile journey.
Two teenage boys' close friendship is thrown into disarray when their schoolmates notice their intimacy.
In 1755, Captain Ludvig Kahlen aimed to conquer a desolate Danish heath for the King. The ruthless Frederik de Schinkel, the area's sole ruler, claims ownership and vows revenge when Ann Barbara and her serf husband seek refuge with Kahlen.
A group of teens in Adelaide have fun conjuring spirts, until it all goes long.