Here’s an independent horror gem and the prequel to X (2022). Starring British actress Mia Goth as Pearl Pratt, we follow her dreary life as she dreams of film stardom.

However, WWI, the 1918-1920 flu pandemic, and mental illness trap her into a monotonous life she can’t stand.

What follows across Pearl is a brilliant time of it, merging black humour with body horror and drama. It’s a very impressive work indeed and a must for horror fans.

Pearl Seeks Movie Stardom (but winds up wielding an axe)

To be clear, this is a psychological horror film. You can compare it to some of Stephen King’s books, and subsequent screen adaptations, such as Carrie (1977) and definitely with the ever-terrifying Misery (1990).

There are even nods to Wizard of Oz (1939), notably with the main character dressed a bit like Dorothy and trying to live a similarly dreamy existence.

Also, a warning here—spoilers be ahead!

Although there’s dark humour throughout Pearl, and it features bright colours and pastiche to present a happy-go-lucky version of the American dream, this is a depiction of severe mental illness.

We meet Pearl, who’s an attractive young lady living with her strict German immigrant parents. They have a farm in Texas.

Not that we mean to do a male gaze, leering thing here. But Pearl’s appearance plays a significant part in her mental decline, as she later reveals she doesn’t consider herself to be attractive.

Bored of her farm life, she yearns to become a movie star.

Her interest in cinema leads her to meet a handsome local projectionist (played by David Corenswet). Pearl is married, but her husband Howard is off fighting in WWI. So she sleeps with the projectionist, before revealing her mental instability.

During an explosive dinner argument, Pearl’s austere mother warns her she should lower her expectations. Simply as her obvious mental health struggles will get in the way of her ambitions.

Pearl is warned people will see through her façade and realise she’s ill.

It’s fair to say Pearl doesn’t respond well to such assessments and turns things into a bit of a bloodbath. She also sets her sights on entering a local dance competition, expecting to win it with a dazzling performance.

In her mind, victory in the competition will mean she can then leave Texas to secure international stardom.

Pearl’s Dance Routine of Doom

Viewers don’t see Pearl dance at all in the build-up to the audition. Yet it’s made clear she’s practicing hard, not least as her mother criticises her dancing.

That leads to Pearl murdering three innocent people. Then she heads off, in rather casual fashion, for a dance off.

We’ve seen discussions online about whether she’s a good dancer or not. What do you think?

What we like is how she starts daydreaming her preferred dancing project mid-audition, which is some bizarre WWI musical with choreography and explosions.

As the viewer, you can’t help but feel a weird and awful sadness for her. She’s ill—her behaviour quite alarming and murderous. And you get the likes of the above, where she’s grinning inanely as she’s figured that’s what people do in society and it’ll help her fit in.

But there’s something a bit off about her; desperate.

Anyway, the board tell her they think her dance is very good. But physically she’s not what they’re after—they want a good looking blonde, blue-eyed girl.

This news sends Pearl into a considerable breakdown with wide-reaching consequences.

A Pause Here to Celebrate Mia Goth’s Scream Queen Scream 😱

Screaming isn’t something most of us ever have to do in our lives. Give it a go now! See how you get on.

But as Goth points out above, she didn’t intend to for an association with the horror genre. Too late for that now! Mwahahahaha!

Seriously, she’s outstanding in this film. That’s an understatement. Anyone who dismisses this career as “just acting” and not a real skill—Goth had a huge amount to do in Pearl with this complicated, obsessive, dangerous character.

She’s English as well, incidentally, and has to provide that southern Texas accent alongside all the wide-ranging psychological battles. Brilliant stuff—right up there with Rebecca Hall’s performance in Christine (2016) or Kath Bates in Misery.

Pearl’s Grand Monologue Ending (and subsequent bloodbath)

Yeah, so Pearl doesn’t take rejection lightly. She has what could easily be described as a psychotic meltdown.

The peak of this is when her husband’s sister, Mitsy (Emma Jenkins-Purro), encourages Pearl to open up about her struggles as if she were speaking to the husband—see the above scene. This follows Pearl’s admittance to Mitsy she thinks she’s different to other people.

In the very alarming, brilliant monologue that follows she terrifies the living bejeezus out of Mitsy with her rather deranged inner demons and misanthropy.

The film ends with Howard returning home on leave.

He’s greeted by a scene of mayhem, whilst also bumping into his beloved (but not for much longer) wife. She then tries her trademark grin in an attempt to welcome her husband home.

It’s kind of a nod to these cheesy ’50s films that ended with a housewife and her family grinning into the screen, equilibrium restored and all right with the world again.

We don’t know how Goth does it, but she manages to make the performance at once amusing, terrifying, and pretty damn heart-breaking.

So, yes, this whole film belongs to her. Mia Goth—outstanding work indeed. You’d have to be the most miserable SOB on Earth to be unimpressed by what she did here.

Hollywood, please include her in more movies.

The Rapid Production of Pearl

This was directed by Ti West, who co-wrote the film with Mia Goth. The pair began working on the script even as they were filming X, with Pearl launching in late 2022.

We’ve never heard of that before. The first film not even out and then the second is greenlit, everything completed within 12 months.

They started filming the sequel immediately after wrapping the first one. It’s incredible and an indication of how professional film crews are these days, but also it makes sense given the COVID-19 situation West mentions above.

With a $1 million budget the crew could film back-to-back with a new location in New Zealand (the film industry’s favourite country to shoot). In a nice little collaborative moment, West was able to bring in some crew from James Cameron’s Avatar: The Way of Water as they were taking a break from filming.

The film went on to make $10 million.

It also met with strong reviews, with a lot of praise for Mia Goth’s performance. Horror doesn’t tend to get major awards ceremony notice, though, so there was no Oscar nomination here. Boo! Hiss!