Ti West's compelling new slasher contains a bloody finale that stands as a worthy homage to the horror genre, but what happens at the end of X?
Warning: Contains SPOILERS for Ti West's X.
Ti West's X crescendos to a bloody spectacle of an ending while also throwing up several lingering questions for its audiences. First released domestically on March 18th, 2022, Ti West's "erotic slasher" X has opened to rave reviews. In particular, critics have cited X's desire to return to a classic slice-and-dice formula that firmly acts as a homage to slasher classics such as John Carpenter's Halloween and Dario Argento's Tenebrae.
X follows a film crew as they arrive at a secluded Texas farm to shoot a pornographic film in the late 1970s, which idealistic director RJ (Owen Campbell) believes will be "a piece of cinema." Seemingly blinded by their ambitions to capitalize on a burgeoning home video porn industry, the young group remain largely unaware of a covetous presence in the farmhouse next door in the form of Pearl (Mia Goth). However, as night falls, Pearl's lustful intent turns violent, with Maxine (also Mia Goth), Lorraine (Jenna Ortega), Wayne (Martin Henderson), Jackson (Scott Mescudi), Bobby-Lynne (Brittany Snow), and RJ forced to contend with the horrors of Pearl's jealousy.
Yet despite acting as a clear love letter to the slasher franchise, Ti West's X has a far from straightforward ending. Between several big character deaths and hidden clues that point to a whole canon unexplored in the movie, X's final scenes are quite the rollercoaster ride. As a result, here's X's ending explained in detail, as well as what the movie's finale really means.
What Happens At The End Of Ti West's X?
The ending of X conspires to close the narrative loop of Ti West's movie, bringing audiences back to the bloody scenes shown at the beginning of the film. The final act of X sees just two surviving members of the porn crew, with Maxine hiding under Howard (The Lord of the Rings trilogy's Stephen Ure) and Pearl's bed while Lorraine is locked in the farmhouse basement. Pearl and Howard, excited from the savage murders they have just committed, have sex, allowing Maxine to quietly crawl away and find Lorraine.
However, when Maxine frees Lorraine from her basement prison, Lorraine reacts rashly, unfairly blaming her promiscuity for the horrors that have unfolded across X's runtime. Panicked, disoriented, and hysterical, Lorraine attempts to run from the farmhouse on foot, only to be shot by Howard. X's endgame then ensues, with Lorraine's death rattle scaring Howard and inducing the heart attack he has long since dreaded. Enraged by the death of her husband and confidante, Pearl attempts to shoot Maxine with Howard's shotgun, but the force of the weapon's blast throws her backward, breaking her hip. As Pearl lays stricken on the floor, begging for help, Maxine decides to take revenge for her slain friends, reversing over Pearl's head in RJ's van in a particularly sickening scene before driving at break-neck speed away from the farm.
The next morning, Sherriff Dentler (James Gaylyn) and the rest of his police force arrive at the house to retrieve the crew's bodies, which they still believe to be intruders following Howard's earlier call to police. However, the police soon discover RJ's film camera and speculate what the footage is, indicating Pearl and Howard's murderous deceit will soon be rumbled. X then ends with a shocking reveal that Maxine is the daughter of a conservative Christian, whose local televangelist-style speeches have been playing on Pearl and Howard's grainy television throughout the movie.
Why Pearl Is A Killer In X
Ti West's X patently explains why Pearl is killing RJ and his pornography crew in the movie, with Pearl's jealousy at the group's hedonistic pleasures crescendoing into a murderous rage. This jealousy at their overtly sexual lifestyles is also why Howard barks at the group to stay away from the farmhouse itself, knowing full well that his wife will react poorly to the porn film being shot on their property. Yet what X does less well at explaining is why Pearl has killed so many times before, particularly given Howard's admission midway through the film that he has cleaned up Pearl's messes in the past (as evidenced by the car in the lake and the chained corpse in the basement a-la black and white classic Psycho). It is unlikely that there are many roving groups of pornographers looking to use Howard and Pearl's farm in the 1970s, leading audiences to rightfully query what Pearl's homicidal trigger actually is.
Why Pearl is a killer in X is best explained by her covetous nature that comes to the fore as she watches over a sleeping Maxine. Pearl's confidence when strutting around the farmhouse and the talk of her "glory years... before the first war" indicates a singular desire for her to return to her former, beautiful self. In this way, it is inferred by X that Pearl kills out of jealousy and spite against her own mortality, rather than being purely trigged by sexual acts as X's story initially indicates. This also tracks with Mia Goth's casting as both Maxine and Pearl, with Maxine closely resembling a young Pearl as an overt nod to her lost youth taunting her throughout Ti West's movie.
Who Is Maxine's Father (& What It Means)
As aforementioned, the end of X shockingly unveils Maxine's father as the local televangelist barking at his acolytes on Howard and Pearl's old TV set. On-screen, the Christian preacher reveals that he is Maxine's father and subsequently prays for her to return to the family and God. This biblical tie to Maxine's less than pious life is subtly repeated throughout X, with the film's final girl often repeating "I will not accept a life I do not deserve" - a sentiment lifted from Mark 10:15 verses in the Bible.
Maxine discovering her heritage affirms her own, oft-used mantra to herself, with Maxine now using her father's prosperity gospel as her new driving force. Maxine's X ending is somewhat ambiguous, leaving it open to interpretation whether Maxine chooses to seek her family or not, but her most likely destination seems to be Hollywood, with Maxine speaking of "making it" in Los Angeles before the bloodshed at Howard's farmhouse begins.
The Real Meaning Of X's Ending
While on a tertiary level, X's ending is classic slasher fare as the final girl overcomes the murderers and escapes, Ti West's new horror is interwoven with more symbolism than Maxine backing over Pearl's head with a van would suggest. The symmetry of Maxine killing Pearl (both played by A Cure For Wellness' Mia Goth) is representative of a natural life cycle, with the new outlasting the old. Pearl covets that which she can no longer have, youth and beauty, and, despite her best efforts, can never attain it - with Maxine rebuffing her advances before defeating her in the final act. In this way, Pearl is representative of convention, while Maxine represents change, and while the two inevitably clash, change inexorably comes out on top both in the real world and in X's final reckoning.
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