As the leaves begin to fall and the air turns delightfully crisp, the commencement of spooky season is finally upon us — which means a variety of new horror movies to add to the annual marathons. And just in time for the season, a new mind-boggling slasher prequel is debuting in theaters today with Pearl. Set to serve as a prequel to Ti West’s favorable X, Mia Goth looks to once again test our gray matter as the titular character who harbors an intense thirst for destruction.
Upon its official theatrical release today, reviews are now pouring in, with Pearl looking to outshine its competition and echo the success of its predecessor with its appealing 85 percent score on Rotten Tomatoes based on 68 reviews (at the time of writing). Luckily for Pearl, the audience consensus is even more positive, with an impressive 89 percent score.
Interestingly, audience scores for the follow-up clock in higher than that of X‘s, while critic scores go in the opposite direction.
From director Ti West, Pearl stars Mia Goth as the titular character Pearl — a young woman living with her parents while her husband is overseas fighting during World War I. When viewers initially meet Pearl and her husband Howard in X, they are both frail, older versions of their former selves. Although, much like in X, the audience begins to notice that something just doesn’t sit right when it comes to the female antagonist in Pearl.
Seeing as West has been climbing up the ranks in the horror realm over the last few years, it’s no surprise that fans are clamoring for more projects from the director — which even includes MaXXXine, which is expected to conclude the X trilogy. For now, Pearl is available to watch now in theaters.