Martin Scorsese says he was so scared after watching Pearl, he had trouble falling asleep. Released in theaters this past weekend, Pearl is a prequel to X, the latter of which released in theaters earlier this year. X followed a group of young filmmakers in the 1970s who attempt to make an adult movie in a Texas farmhouse owned by an elderly woman, Pearl, and her husband, Howard. Appropriately subtitled An X-traordinary Origin Story, the new film Pearl now serves as a 1918-set introduction to the titular villain as Pearl tends to her ailing father under the watch of her domineering mother all while dreaming of becoming a movie star.
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After portraying an elderly Pearl in X (as well as final girl Maxine), Mia Goth returns to lead the cast of the prequel as a teenage version of the titular character alongside David Corenswet, Tandi Wright, Matthew Sunderland, and Emma Jenkins-Purro in supporting roles. Ti West also returns to direct Pearl, which he co-wrote with Goth. Filmed back-to-back with the first movie in secret, Pearl premiered at the Venice International Film Festival to rave reviews from critics for West's direction and Goth's performance.
Now, following its wide release on September 16, Pearl has received a glowing review from legendary filmmaker Martin Scorsese. In his Pearl review published by Slash Film, Scorsese praises the horror film as "wild, mesmerizing, deeply disturbing." In fact, the filmmaker was so unsettled by Pearl that he had trouble falling asleep after watching it. Read a portion of Scorsese's review below:
I was enthralled, then disturbed, then so unsettled that I had trouble getting to sleep. But I couldn't stop watching.
Earlier in his Pearl review, Scorsese also pointed out how the prequel to X was "made in a diametrically opposite cinematic register (think 50s Scope color melodramas)." As a devout cinephile, it's not surprising Scorsese was struck by West's ability to deliver a vastly different film from X in terms of its technicolor cinematography and longer takes. Scorsese was also likely enamored with Pearl's homages to classical Hollywood cinema, particularly The Wizard of Oz.
In terms of Pearl's shock value, Scorsese was far from the only one losing sleep over the film's more disturbing scenes, whether they involve alligator feeding, decapitation, or the uncomfortable end credits scene. However, this is especially surprising given Scorsese is not a tame director himself, having made some shockingly violent films like Taxi Driver, Goodfellas, Casino, or the lesser-known Age of Innocence. Clearly, West's direction and technical skills managed to achieve something very special. All the positive reviews aside, perhaps there is no greater testament to Pearl's standing as a horror movie than causing the great Martin Scorsese to lose sleep.