Upamanyu Biswas
In the Ti West-directed slasher-horror ‘MaXXXine,’ the release of an upcoming horror movie titled ‘The Puritan II’ leads to protests on the streets of Los Angeles, California. The titular protagonist looks to break out of her adult film shell by landing the leading role in the slasher, setting her on the path of entering the mainstream movie business. However, the production is hit by numerous unforeseen obstacles in the shape of cultural riots and the murderous rampage of a serial killer gunning after Maxine Minx. Naturally, the film plays a pivotal part in the narration as it taps into core themes and offers a breakthrough opportunity for Maxine to transform her image!
The Puritan II is Not an Actual Movie
‘The Puritan II’ is a fictional slasher film in ‘MaXXXine‘ that was crafted by writer and director Ti West to illustrate the setup of Maxine’s journey into mainstream Hollywood after working in the adult film business for years. The movie is introduced in the opening sequence when Maxine goes through an audition to land the role of the leading character in the made-up production. After she gets the part, a series of dissenting voices take to the street to air their concerns about the gory subject matter of the film, labeling it as the devil’s work. Additionally, Maxine’s career as a pornstar plays into the moral outrage of the public when she is cast as the lead.
Although the film does not exist in real life, several facets of its conception can be directly traced to religious horror films from the 20th century, most notably, ‘The Exorcist,‘ ‘Rosemary’s Baby,’ and ‘The Omen.’ The plot details of the in-universe movie may be sparse, but it follows a similar thematic route as depicted within the films mentioned above, which were partly responsible for giving rise to a satanic panic among the populace. The collective hysteria gripped the nation during the 1980s, which lines up with the timeline of the film’s setting, and raged on against any form of entertainment deemed as deviant – pornography and horror fitting under that umbrella. With Maxine dipping her toes in both, it makes sense that there would be a critical response to ‘The Puritan II’ from the gathered masses.
Interestingly, there was also a rise in serial killer activity during that period and people’s awareness of these gruesome murders happening in their neighborhoods, which fed into pre-existing fears. Despite the similar motifs between ‘The Puritan II’ and other religious horror flicks, it is ultimately portrayed as a slasher film. Films like ‘Evil Dead II,’ ‘The Thing,‘ and ‘Silent Night, Deadly Night’ faced censorship issues, not dissimilar to the attitude prevailing around ‘The Puritan II.’ Some slashers during the 80s were even banned in the UK after being classed as video nasties. However, the fictional movie starring Maxine is a period film set during an older era, separating it from other slashers of its kind.
Director Ti West weighed in on the 80s moral anxiety as a particularly defining characteristic of what he wanted to achieve with his fictional film production. He said, “The 80s was an appropriately excessive time for both era and industry, for the peak of VHS and the kinds of movies that were being made, especially horror movies. To take her to the belly of the beast and to set it in the summer of 1985, which had the backdrop of a real-life serial killer as well as a lot of moral outrage about music and movies and censorship, felt like the right setting and the right time and place.” Therefore, it makes sense that ‘The Puritan II’ draws upon all these tangential cultural and societal forces revolving around the horror industry of the 1980s, grounding the make-believe film in genuine authenticity despite not existing in reality.
Read More: Kevin Turen Tribute on MaXXXine: Who was He? How Did He Die?
