Kevin Bacon says horror has moved on from being a “loser” genre
The horror genre has always occupied a specific niche, often getting taken less seriously than others, but Kevin Bacon believes that it is no longer a “loser part of filmmaking”.
The actor stars in Ti West’s newest horror, MaXXXine, as a detective—a role he secured due to his love of X and Pearl, the other instalments in the trilogy. X, released in 2022, paid homage to classic low-budget ‘70s slasher movies, particularly The Texas Chainsaw Massacre. It follows a pornographic film crew whose attempt to make a movie in a rural farmhouse is disturbed by a murderous elderly couple.
The film also includes references to Friday the 13th, an iconic entry in the slasher canon in which Bacon starred during the early days of his career. Thus, it’s no surprise that the horror veteran wanted in on the final instalment in the X trilogy, having also been impressed by the sequel, Pearl, which tells the origin story of the titular killer who wreaks havoc in X.
“I was really knocked out by how tonally different [X and Pearl] were,” he explained to Consequence. “My people were able to get in touch with him, and we sat down, and I said, ‘Listen, I just like your movies.’ And he said, ‘Well, there is a movie that I’m doing, it’s part of the trilogy, and I’ll send it to you.’”
Bacon believes West is one of the leading horror directors of the moment, stating that he, alongside various other directors, has helped to rescue horror from its “loser status”. He elucidated, “I think for many years it was considered, like, a loser part of filmmaking — it would never make its way into the awards sphere.”
The actor continued, “It would never be embraced by anything other than horror fans, and it’s not something that is going to draw good actors and filmmakers. And that’s really clearly not the case anymore. When you look at filmmakers like Ti West and Jordan Peele, you can see that these are artists.”
MaXXXine follows Mia Goth’s Maxine, the main character in X, as she tries to make it in Hollywood following the events of the first film. Set in the ‘80s, Maxine navigates the film industry while also trying to avoid a mysterious killer known as The Night Stalker.
It will be available in theatres starting on July 5th.
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