Pearl 4K Review (Second Sight Films)

Pearl is a 2022 horror film co-written, produced, edited, and directed by TI West (X, Maxxxine, Cabin Fever 2, The House of the Devil, The Innkeepers, V/H/S, The ABCs of Death, In a Valley of Violence, and The Sacrament). It was co-written and executive produced by lead actress Mia Goth. It was executive produced by Kid Cudi (X, Maxxxine, A Man Named Scott, Slime, and Entergalactic). It was filmed at the same time as X. It originally going to be in black and white but the studio turned down that idea. It grossed $9,847,490 worldwide at the box office. Trapped on her family’s isolated farm in 1918, Pearl (played by: Mia Goth from X, Maxxxine, Suspiria, Infinity Pool, Frankenstein, and A Cure for Wellness) must tend to her ailing father (played by: Matthew Sunderland from The Devil’s Rock, The Nightingale, 6 Days, The Stranger, and The Lost City of Z) under the bitter and overbearing watch of her vicious mother Ruth (played by: Tandi Wright from Love and Monsters, The Returned, Shortland Street, Crash Palace, Serial Killers, and Black Sheep). She’s been lusting for a glamorous life like she’s seen in the movies while her husband is away fighting for his country. Pearl’s big ambitions, temptations, and repressions all collide together. She is about to explode holding everything in and she’s losing her grip on reality after experiencing so much trauma, what will happen next with this unpredictable woman???? Technically, this is the prequel for the X trilogy but it was the 2nd film released despite being shot at the same time with X. TI West has directed some really unique and great horror features over the years but he’s mainly known for this interesting franchise. I really enjoyed X and I do appreciate how different Pearl is compared to that one. It’s honestly my least favorite from the entire trilogy but that’s not an insult to it because it’s still better than a good amount of movies out there. The script is a period piece with slasher tendencies and it’s a fantastic character study more than anything. Mia Goth is more than the lead actress in Pearl. This is the first film that she helped co-write and executive produce. The best thing about this horror series is that each version of the character is completely different from each other. Mia Goth is amazing here and she’s the reason to watch this. The development and changes with the role are worth the wild ride alone. She stays to herself and she always takes orders until it’s just too much. Her father is sick so she keeps busy always taking care of him. She is responsible for all of the animals on the farm. Plus her mother is very cruel. She’s about to snap at any time. She decides to sneak away for a distraction with cinema. It brings back all her hopes and dreams. She’s feeling like it’s all possible until it all falls apart again. Her personality changes like a flip of a switch. She’s all over the place as she struggles to stay sane. She delivers a killer monologue. Before he got his big break as Clark Kent, David Corenswet (Superman, Twisters, and We Own This City) shows up as The Projectionist. He meets Pearl while she’s visiting his theater. They both connect over it. She confesses her goals when it comes to dancing and movies. He gives her so hope for a possible life in Europe. After they hook up, he notices something isn’t right with her so he wants to leave. This sets the unpredictable Pearl off. He’s great as the charmer that realizes he made a mistake before it was too late. I’m not really too familiar with actress Tandi Wright but she damn near steals the show as the mean spirited Ruth. She rivals either Norma Bates or Margaret White, you are not really surprised how Pearl turns out after how she treats her in this. The rest of the supporting cast includes Matthew Sunderland, Emma Jenkins-Purro (One Of Us Is Lying), Alistair Sewell (Bad Behaviour), and Amelia Reid (M3GAN 2.0). Pearl has a smaller cast so it feels a little more personal. Pearl does need some patience because it takes a little time to get somewhere but it definitely pays the audience back for it. It goes from a psychological drama to a slasher. Once all hell breaks loose, it’s brutal and graphic for all of it’s violence. It has some high quality special fx from artists Brad Cunningham (X, Cocaine Bear, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Chappie, Dracula Untold, The Hobbit franchise, and Krampus), Brian Duff (Wolf Man, X, The Hobbit franchise, Avatar: The Way of Water, Ghost in the Shell, and Don’t Be Afraid of the Dark), and others when it comes to the gore. Pearl keeps getting creepier and creepier as it goes on. When it’s the finale, it’s a living hell with no turning back. Pearl gets my respect for being better on it’s repeat viewings because I originally wasn’t that impressed compared to the previous feature. I guess it takes time to grow on you but that’s some excellent replay value when it can do that. Like I said, I prefer X and Maxxxine over it but it still one of the better horror productions in recent years. RECOMMENDED!!!! Let’s discuss this high definition presentation and special features from Second Sight Films! This 2160p (2.39:1) transfer with Dolby Vision and HDR10 is an impressive upgrade compared to the previous blu ray release that I seen from the states with Lionsgate. This stylish technicolor horror feature deserves this type of treatment. The colorful cinematography, creative production design, gruesome special fx, and sharp locations really pop out when it comes to the visuals. It has a few different audio options which includes English: Dolby TrueHD 7.1 and English: DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 tracks on the UHD. Not only is the picture quality better, the audio even gets an major improvement on this disc. I always thought it sounded great but it’s above that especially with that 7.1 that rocks the sound setup with it’s madness. All of the dialogue is crisp, the insanity is elevated, and the music has a killer boost to it. It has English SDH subtitles. It has a brand new “Audio Commentary” with film critic and author Alexandra Heller-Nicholas. She’s very honest and blunt about Pearl. She says it’s the masterpiece of the trilogy. Lots of detailed information and stories shared here. She focuses on it being shot during the pandemic. She goes over it’s visual style, cast, characters, concept, and it’s progression. It has the brand new almost 19 minute “Bold Choices”. It’s an interview with director TI West. He says he took a break before I did these films. He did a western and some television before it. He wasn’t happy with what was happening to the genre so he came back with this franchise. He goes right into the origin stories for this. He chats about working on the script and finishing it in a few weeks during the quarantine. He talks about putting together as the same time as X. He was able to use everything from that shoot for this prequel. He shows appreciation for the cast and the music for it. It has the brand new little over 28 minute “Mother”. It’s an interview with actress Tandi Wright. She got the gigs from The Lord of the Rings television series. She chats about her coordinator job on X. She explains what her exact responsibilities were in that role. She was asked to actually act in Pearl after working on that first movie. She talks about finding out that they were already working on the prequel while they were on X. She says the script grabbed her attention. She shows respect for the producers, TI West, and Mia Goth while working on these films. She discusses the special fx process for her character in this. She was thrilled about the fire stunt from it. It has the brand new almost 13 minute “Absorb the Aesthetic”. It’s an interview with DP Eliot Rockett. He was friends with the friends before they started doing collaborations. He was busy working on TV while he was doing his earlier projects. He chats about his experience working together with TI West on Pearl. He talks about their original black and white idea before it was shot down by the studio. It lead to them going very colorful instead with a Technicolor approach which ended up being some of his most impressive shots for his career. He brings up his methods and style to it. He shares technical and equipment used during it. It has the brand new little over 19 minute “Going Technicolor”. It’s an interview with production designer Tom Hammock. He originally met TI West on You’re Next and they reconnected on the television series Them. He goes over the differences on a major and a smaller production. He chats about working on multiple films at the same time with X and Pearl. It was only a few weeks between both of them so it kept him extremely busy. He goes over the overall look of the production. Lots of interesting information about it here. It has the brand new little over 10 minute “Hollywood Goes West”. It’s a video essay with Joe Wallace. He describes it’s themes and concepts while the clips are being shown. He breaks down the trilogy through them all. He provides the backstory and motivations for it. What makes them stand out from each other. It has the almost 12 minute “Coming Out of her Shell”. It has interviews with TI West, Mia Goth, Tandi Wright, and David Corenswet. This is from the original A24 release. They chat about it kinda started out as a joke. As they kept working together, it became something real serious. They wanted to explore and expand the franchise rather than just doing a single film. The backstory turned into a prequel because of all of the extra time during Covid. They put it together really quick. They share their thoughts about the Pearl character. It has the almost 4 minute “Time After Time”. This is also from the A24 disc. TI West chats about Pearl still wasn’t green lite while they were prepping X. They made sure to put all kinds of easter eggs and references to Pearl in the original feature. TI goes over changing everything up from X to Pearl to make it a new experience for the prequel. There’s all kinds of exclusive bonus material here. The U.S. version had a different commentary but this has so much more on it. It’s available everywhere right now in the U.K. including select spots in the states, CHECK IT OUT!!!!