Pearl
A24 | Release Date: September 16, 2022 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
76
METASCORE
Generally favorable reviews based on 39 Critic Reviews
Positive:
30
Mixed:
8
Negative:
1
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
60
CineVueChristopher MachellMar 16, 2023
Pearl is notable as a pandemic film, situating itself in the middle of the Spanish flu outbreak, though much like its engagement with sex, violence and entertainment, and its treatment of women, the film sets the table for a discussion but doesn’t quite make a full meal of it. Read full review
60
Los Angeles TimesRobert AbeleSep 15, 2022
West, one of the genre’s true artisans of sticky dread, certainly has fun seeding a handsomely mounted and shot (by Eliot Rockett) period melodrama with the trappings of imminent violence, from the crimson red wallpaper to a maggot-swarmed suckling pig. But Pearl rarely justifies itself as a franchised standalone built on the early psychosis of its bloodthirsty, unstable ingenue. Read full review
58
IndieWireKate ErblandSep 3, 2022
It’s an impressive feat of filmmaking, but one that reveals nothing new, a major misstep for a film seemingly dedicated to doing just that. Read full review
50
Slant MagazineDerek SmithSep 14, 2022
Pearl is ultimately an empty exercise in style masquerading as a character study, and for as fantastic as Mia Goth is, her performance mostly succeeds at making Ti West’s homages just a little bit easier to stomach. Read full review
50
Washington PostOlivia McCormackSep 14, 2022
As a prequel, it never finds its footing, bogging down a potentially fascinating character study with unnecessary details — traveling old paths instead of seeking new ones. “Pearl,” like the version of the character we see in “X,” is stuck in the past. Read full review
50
IGNSiddhant AdlakhaSep 12, 2022
From its anachronistic homages to its tensionless filmmaking, Pearl — Ti West’s prequel to X — doesn’t have nearly as much to say as its predecessor. Mia Goth gives it her all as a villainess who dreams of stardom, but the film can’t decide what to do with her. Read full review
50
San Francisco ChronicleZaki HasanSep 12, 2022
Taken together, “X” and “Pearl” make for a compelling double-feature showcasing blood-spattered homages to different eras of film. Read full review
40
Screen RantMae AbdulbakiSep 13, 2022
For those who may not have seen X, Pearl may be intriguing enough for them to go watch the original film. As both a prequel and standalone horror film, however, Pearl comes up short. Read full review
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