Ti West's prequel slasher Pearl recalls one of Bette Davis' most tormented roles in the new A24 trailer with a What Ever Happened to Baby Jane vibe.
The trailer for Pearl, Ti West's prequel to his slasher film X, brings Mia Goth back into the spotlight. She stars as the titular Pearl, a murderous young woman who would do just about anything to be famous. Pearl depicts her descent into violence as she tries to make a name for herself in a changing world.
Both Pearl and X take inspiration from slasher classics like The Texas Chain Saw Massacre, but there is another film that mirrors Pearl's desire for fame and love. What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? is a 1962 psychological horror film directed by Robert Aldrich. The film stars Bette Davis and Joan Crawford as a pair of sisters living alone together in their family mansion as Bette Davis' character "Baby" Jane Hudson becomes increasingly violent.
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"Baby" Jane Hudson is a former child star who outgrew her fame and is desperate to rekindle it. Her obsession manifests as she terrorizes and controls her sister Blanche Hudson (Crawford), who is confined to a wheelchair after an automobile accident while the sisters were younger. Jane is extremely jealous of Blanche's success in the film industry, feeling that she deserves to still be in the spotlight. Their relationship is strained due to the role reversal of their success, along with the presumption that Jane is responsible for Blanche's accident.
Jane, who dresses herself to match the porcelain Baby Jane dolls that were made during her era of fame, begins to isolate her sister from society. She spies on her phone calls and keeps her upstairs where she can't access the outside world. After finding out that Blanche is selling the house (which Jane wrongly thinks is hers), Jane takes away her phone and attempts to feed her dead animals. Jane uses psychological methods to torture Blanche, heightening the tension as there are no "visible" wounds.
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Jane tries to rekindle her career with the help of Edwin Flagg (Victor Buono), an English musician. Her obsession with fame turns even more violent when she murders their housekeeper Elvira (Maidie Norman). As all of this is happening, Jane struggles with reconciling her past and present. She is unable to grow up and accept her status as a former child star, and she desperately craves the love and attention she received when she was a child. By the film's end, the two sisters end up on the beach, where a dying Blanche reveals that Jane was not responsible for her accident and that Blanche did it to set her up. However, Blanche is almost dead, and Jane finally breaks away from reality as she thinks that the police and beach bystanders are there to watch her perform.
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane? reveals the lengths that a broken woman might go to for a chance at fame. Baby Jane, who was idolized as a child for her talent, loses this celebrity status as she ages. Unfortunately, this is a phenomenon often seen with child stars, who lose their stardom when they grow up. Jane turns to alcohol and isolation to deal with her crumbling world until her desire for fame is reignited. As she rehearses with Edwin, it's obvious that Jane is no longer a talented singer, but she is so deluded by her obsession with notoriety and the past that she isn't aware of this.
What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?, X and Pearl are psycho-biddy films or films that focus on the intersections of the horror genre, gender, and the effects of aging and diminishing fame. The desire for fame is closely linked with a desire to be loved and appreciated by other people. With characters like Pearl and Jane, this desire is contradicted by society's disdain for women and their natural process of aging. When women age, they are no longer considered desirable, leading these characters to use any means necessary to regain their celebrity status.
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Audiences will get to experience Pearl's origin story years before the bloody events of X take place, allowing horror fans to watch her try and achieve her fame. Like X, Pearl will likely show the titular character using sex and violence to break away from her repressive home and family to become a star, similar to Max (Mia Goth) in X.
Although these women are villainous in their attempt to gain (or regain) fame, the way that society disregards them in their most vulnerable states makes these "evil" women characters sympathetic. Audiences feel sorry for them, as older women are often regarded as "past their prime" and "useless" by society. Pearl's confession at the end of the newly released trailer for Pearl reveals the mindset of these damaged and lost women by saying, "I want to be loved by many people as possible. But truth is, I’m not really a good person."
Pearl will be released in US theaters Sept.16.
Sophia is an avid fan of all things horror, goth, and queer. They live in NYC and are an aspiring writer. Along with writing for CBR, they also write for Flixist!
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