MaXXXine ending explained: Who dies in the Mia Goth horror movie?

Maxine Minx is back and she’s got her sights set on Hollywood in MaXXXine – if you’re a horror fan and gagging to know how the movie ends (and who dies along the way), we’ve got you covered. 

MaXXXine is the last movie in Ti West’s X trilogy, centering on Mia Goth’s titular character as she tries to make it in show biz – but, following the events of X, she’s finding it hard to shake off her past. 

As we said in our four-star MaXXXine review: “It’s bloody, it’s sleazy, and it’s a riotous good time, blending a noir-esque crime caper with the over-the-top violence of video nasties.”

With it out in cinemas as of July 5, 2024, here’s what you need to know about what happens at the end of the horror movie. Warning: Major spoilers ahead!

MaXXXine ending explained

MaXXXine ends with Maxine Minx finally achieving her goal of becoming a Hollywood star. But she has to go through a lot to get to that point. 

You see, MaXXXine takes place in 1985, six years after the events of X. After making a name for herself in the adult entertainment industry, she’s auditioning to become a film star. 

She finally catches her big break in a horror movie sequel titled The Puritan II. But it’s not all smooth sailing, as her past catches up with her. 

A mysterious figure is stalking her, and they know about what happened in X – after Pearl murdered the porn production crew at a Texan barn, Maxine crushed her doppelganger’s head before fleeing the scene. 

She’s determined to move on, but when her friends start being murdered brutally, all of them branded with a satanic pentagram, she finds it hard to focus and ignore the burgeoning threat. 

As well as sending videotape footage of the porn shoot from X, the shadowy figure – who may or may not be the Night Stalker – sets private investigator John Labat (Kevin Bacon) on her tail.

And if that weren’t enough, two LAPD detectives (Michelle Monaghan and Bobby Cannavale) are never far away, wanting to know why Maxine is the common denominator when it comes to her friends’ murders. 

Whoever is stalking Maxine sends her a letter with the address ‘166 Starlight Drive’. Although she initially tries to ignore it, she remembers her Puritan co-star Molly Bennett (Lily Collins) said she was heading there for a party. 

Not wanting Molly to be next on the chopping block, she grabs her gun and heads to the Hollywood Hills mansion, where we finally find out who’s been following her: Maxine’s televangelist preacher father Ernest (Simon Prast).

Ironically, he wants to put a stop to the “Hollywood cult of sin” and save “the lost children” – which he does so by leading a cult… and murdering all of Maxine’s friends. 

After knocking her out, she wakes up tied to a pole outside the mansion, with a group of Ernest’s followers surrounding her and filming the sadistic ritual. 

Just as he’s about to brand Maxine with the same pentagram he used on her friends, the LAPD detectives – who have been secretly listening in – turn up. 

Events quickly descend into chaos as a shootout between the cult and the police ensues. After a lot of bloodshed, Maxine breaks free, making it down to the Hollywood sign. 

There, she finds her father lying on the floor, having been shot. With his last dying breath, he says, “I tried to give you what you wanted, to be just like your daddy, but I created a monster. Forgive me. Failing a child is the greatest sin.”

As he says this, a police helicopter approaches, with the lights Maxine’s been yearning for shining down on the scene. The officers tell everyone to drop their weapons before saying, “It’s over Maxine.”

Following these events, Maxine is now finally able to enjoy the fame she’s been waiting for – as the star of The Puritan II (now the biggest movie in America) but also as a hero for helping to take down her serial killer father. 

In a news segment, she gracefully tells the presenter that she “thanks God for orchestrating this all.” At the premiere of the horror flick, the crowd is screaming her name, while a reporter asks for advice she’d give to any young women wanting to make it in Hollywood. 

The scene flashes back to the Hollywood sign shootout. After Maxine and Ernest say her most iconic line in unison – “I will not accept a life I do not deserve” – she shoots him in the head. 

Who dies in MaXXXine

The body count in MaXXXine is pretty high: as well as Maxine’s father Ernest, you’ve got her friends Leon (Moses Sumney), Tabby (Halsey), and Amber (Chloe Farnworth). Then there’s PI Labat, LAPD Detectives Williams and Torres, Molly, and several of Ernest’s followers. 

Everyone who dies in MaXXXine:

• Leon
• Tabby
• Amber
• Molly
• Detective Williams
• Detective Torres
• Ernest and his followers
• PI Labat

As said, Leon, Tabby, Amber, and Molly all die at the hands of Maxine’s serial killer pops. 

As for Kevin Bacon’s private investigator, after he continues to harass her, Maxine gets one of the henchmen at the peep show she moonlights at and her agent Teddy Knight (Giancarlo Esposito) to help her kill him – by getting him flattened by a car crusher. 

The LAPD detectives kill a number of the evangelist cult members before they are taken out. But, in the end, they did their job whether they knew it or not – making sure Maxine came out unscathed. 

Is there a post-credits scene?

No, there is no post-credits scene at the end of MaXXXine.

Although Pearl and X also didn’t have post-credits scenes, since both movies were shot back-to-back, some North American screenings featured a sneak peek of the prequel after the first film. 

MaXXXine finishes the X trilogy, but it might not be the end of this world; West has expressed the potential for a fourth film or a spinoff in the same universe. 

MaXXXine is in cinemas now. You can also check out other new A24 movies, the best Neon horrors to watch before Longlegs, and new movies coming out this month.