We’re only halfway through the 2020s, but the decade has already been one of the best for horror. Marked by diverse, innovative, and commercially successful films like Talk to Me, The Black Phone, Barbarian, and His House, the decade has been a new golden age for the genre. Many of those top-tier horror films from the 2020s have found a streaming home on HBO Max, but the platform’s deep horror catalog is about to take a major hit with the departure of two of the 2020s best horror films.
HBO Max subscribers are running out of time to stream X and Pearl. The first two installments in Ti West’s X trilogy are scheduled to stop streaming on HBO Max on December 31st. The trilogy launched in 2022 with X, a slasher following a group of young people who head to a Texas property to film an adult movie, and continued that same year with the prequel film Pearl, which depicts the titular character’s origin story. Mia Goth stars in the films as both Pearl and Maxine, a survivor of the 1979 massacre who heads to Hollywood in the trilogy’s final installment, MaXXXine, which will still be available to stream on HBO Max.
Ti West’s X Trilogy Is One of the Best Modern Horror Series
The past few years have been great ones for the horror genre, and West’s X trilogy stands out as some of the best. The entire trilogy plays out as an ambitious, meta-narrative story about the dark side of fame, female desire and rage, sexual repression, and generational trauma, and a love letter to the horror genre and filmmaking as a whole. Each film pays tribute to a different horror subgenre and cinematic period, with X serving as a perfect ‘70s slasher throwback with a raw, grungy feel reminiscent of The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, while Pearl nods to ‘40s melodramas such as The Wizard of Oz and MaXXXine to ‘80s neo-noir thrillers.
Rather than just being run-of-the-mill slashers, the X trilogy functions as a character study of its villain and final girl, where all of the gore and violence (and there’s plenty of both) has purpose. All of it is anchored by Goth’s powerhouse dual performances as the ambitious starlet Maxine and the tragic, aging woman Pearl as the films explore their parallel paths amid their desperate ambition for stardom. While all three films work as standalone movies, they work together to tell a cohesive, character-driven story packed with West’s artistic vision and plenty of thematic depth.
All three films in the trilogy hold “Certified Fresh” critic scores on Rotten Tomatoes, with X and Pearl remaining standouts with respective 94% and 93% ratings. Pearl is the highest-rated in the trilogy when it comes to audience consensus, improving upon X’s 76% rating with an 83% score.
Where to Stream X and Pearl After They Leave HBO Max?
Horror fans will have a difficult time binge-watching the X trilogy following X and Pearl’s exit from HBO Max, as neither film streams outside of the platform and neither is included in a rival services’ January lineup. This means that after X and Pearl leave HBO Max, they will only be available to rent or purchase online.
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