With a worldwide gross of only $14 million, Ti West’s 2022 horror flick X didn’t sell a ton of tickets. As such, it comes as a surprise that it inspired a prequel.

However, this feels like less of a shock when one learns that West shot X and 2022’s Pearl back-to-back. This meant Pearl was already in the can before X made it to multiplexes.

X introduced Pearl (Mia Goth) as a homicidal elderly woman circa 1979. Pearl goes back about 60 years to investigate the character’s “origin story”.

Set in rural Texas circa 1918, Pearl finds herself stuck on her family’s isolated farm. In addition to the duties that setting requires, she tends to the needs of her disabled father (Matthew Sunderland) and contends with the demands of her devout and strict mother (Tandi Wright).

Pearl dreams of stardom in movies, and this leads to frustration with her current lot in life. Not the most mentally stable of ladies, Pearl reacts to her situation via increasingly violent methods.

X didn’t work for me. Unfortunately, Pearl does little to improve on that model.

Though I do find some positives here, as at least Pearl deviates from the tried ‘n’ true horror tactics. Not that it avoids all the tropes, but West makes the movie something unusual for the format.

In particular, West fashions Pearl in the mode of a piece of classic Hollywood. It occasionally feels like a perverse Wizard of Oz, with a farm girl who dreams of a more grandiose life.

Of course, Dorothy’s murders occurred unintentionally and only involved witches. Pearl goes on a more obvious killing spree.

Even so, the film mines unusual territory for a flick in its genre. Whatever else I might think of Pearl, I give it credit for that willingness to depart from the norm.

I also appreciate that Pearl offers a “slow burn” story, with only occasional horror stabs during its first half. We get obvious hints that Pearl ain’t right in the head – such as when she gratuitously kills a goose – but the movie doesn’t ladle out the gore early.

That allows Pearl to feel more self-confident than most in the genre. Too many modern films of this sort feel that if they don’t toss gore at the viewers right from the start, the audience will balk.

That tendency irritates me, as it often means violence that comes too soon and ruins the story’s flow. Pearl manages to set up its character and her mental issues in a more gradual way, and I like that.

Despite all these positives, I admit I find Pearl to end up as a less than satisfying movie, mainly because it seems more like a cinematic experiment than a full-fledged tale. I get the impression West liked the idea of a bloody horror tale melded with classic Hollywood feel so much that he cobbled a less than compelling story around it.

Let’s face it: all the creativity here comes from the stylistic choices. As clever as it seems to place violent material in a warm Technicolor glow, this doesn’t compensate for the fairly cliché story on display.

Granted, one could argue that the trite nature of so much of what we see comes with the territory. Because West wanted to make a movie that threw back to early Hollywood, he may’ve felt that it should embrace various tropes as part of the concept.

This doesn’t lead to a satisfying narrative, though, and we can see pretty much everything that Pearl does come from a mile away. Precious few actual surprises arise.

I would still rate Pearl as above average for its genre. Whatever its flaws, at least it attempts something different.

Nonetheless, it still feels more like a cinematic experiment than a complete movie. Pearl boasts strengths but doesn’t quite fit together in the end.

Pearl appears in an aspect ratio of 2.39:1 on this Blu-ray Disc. The movie came with an appealing presentation.

For the most part, sharpness worked fine. A little softness – some of which appeared to be offer a stylistic choice – occurred, but these instances remained modest.

No issues with jagged edges or moiré effects materialized, and I saw no edge haloes. Print flaws failed to appear.

While the image showed a little of the usual amber and teal, the palette expanded more than normal and often gave off a semi-Technicolor impression. The hues felt full and rich.

Blacks looked deep and dense, while shadows appeared smooth and concise. Expect a positive image here.

While not dazzling, the movie’s Dolby Atmos soundtrack suited the material. Downconverted to Dolby TrueHD 7.1, this meant a soundfield mainly heavy on music and atmosphere, though occasional moments of greater involvement popped up at times.

A thunderstorm boasted good activity, as did a few reflections of combat. Still, the track tended toward general environmental information much of the time.

Audio quality seemed strong, with speech that remained natural and concise. Music showed positive range and impact.

Effects felt accurate and tight, with good low-end as necessary. The film’s soundtrack appeared to suit the story.

How did this 2025 reissue of X compare to the original 2022 Blu-ray? Though the 2025 disc boasted Atmos audio instead of the prior BD’s 5.1, I didn’t detect notable differences, as the sound design remained atmospheric for the most part in both. This wasn’t a movie with lots of room for sonic whizbang.

Visuals felt identical for both. If the 2025 released improved the 2022 disc’s picture in any way, I didn’t see it.

The 2025 edition does come with new extras, and one of these comes from an audio commentary from director of photography Eliot Rockett and production designer Tom Hammock. Both sit together for this running, screen-specific look at their work on the movie as well as related domains.

These two paired for a track to discuss X that worked nicely and their follow-up also turns into an appealing chat. We get a fine array of insights here.

Along with the film’s trailer, two featurettes from the 2022 disc appear, and Coming Out of Her Shell runs 11 minutes, 37 seconds. It offers notes from co-writer/actor Mia Goth, co-writer/actor Ti West, and actors David Corenswet and Tandi Wright.

“Shell” examines the roots and development of the film, connections to X and story/characters, cast and performances, and photography. “Shell” becomes a short but efficient overview.

Time After Time lasts four minutes and involves West as he covers transforming X sets into their earlier counterparts and other visual choices. It brings some good details.

New to this “X Trilogy” set, we get a 64-page booklet that includes an essay from critic Jon Dieringer along with photos, art/sketches and movie ephemera across X and sequels Pearl and MaXXXine. It offers some value to the package.

As a cinematic experiment, Pearl offers some intrigue, and the movie occasionally connects. However, it can feel more like a gimmick flick than one that comes with a natural need to exist. The Blu-ray boasts very good picture and audio as well as minor bonus materials. This turns into an inconsistent horror tale.

Note that this 2025 Blu-ray of Pearl comes only as part of a three-film “X Trilogy” set. This includes updated versions of predecessor X and sequel MaXXXine as well as the aforementioned 64-page booklet.