In this prequel set decades before the grisly events of Ti West’s hit slasher X, Mia Goth returns as the future psycho-biddy Pearl, here a starry-eyed farm girl with a short fuse and a deadly ambition.

Shrewdly set in 1918, when war was raging in Europe and a deadly pandemic was stoking both prejudice and paranoia throughout the United States, Pearl sees Ti West return to the Texas ranch from his hit slasher X to tell the twisted origin story of Mia Goth’s memorable murderess.

Bathed in a brilliant Technicolor-esque glow courtesy of cinematographer Eliot Rockett, and adorned by Tyler Bates’ sweeping score, which is pitched to the histrionic heights of a classical Hollywood melodrama, Pearl is an even campier affair than its predecessor — complete with surreal musical flights of fancy.