Thanks to A24
This week, “MaXXXine” concludes the “X” trilogy and introduces a new mysterious killer to the horror film franchise.
In the final film, aspiring movie star Maxine Minx (Mia Goth) runs rampant through Hollywood after surviving a massacre six years earlier in the first film, 2022’s “X.” She’s joined at the end of the trilogy by Kevin Bacon, Giancarlo Esposito, Elizabeth Debicki, Moses Sumney, Lily Collins, Halsey, Michelle Monaghan, and Bobby Cannavale.
But as the former porn star continues her journey through 1980s Los Angeles, more and more deaths are appearing around her.
The culprit? According to the horror movie news sources, it’s the Night Stalker. And while he’s not named in the movie, this is the story of the real serial killer.
Who was the real Night Stalker?
Richard Ramirez, dubbed the Night Stalker by the media, was a serial killer, rapist and burglar who murdered at least 13 people in California in 1984 and 1985, the year in which “MaXXXine” is set. Some media also called him the Walk-In Killer or the Valley Intruder.
Ramirez grew up in El Paso, Texas in an abusive household and was later influenced by his older cousin, a Vietnam War veteran who committed multiple war crimes in Vietnam. He showed Ramirez graphic Polaroid photos of women he had murdered, which Ramirez later said fascinated and terrified him.
Ramirez began using drugs and alcohol at a young age and witnessed the same cousin shoot and kill his wife. He dropped out of high school around the same time.
After moving to Los Angeles in 1982, he began abusing drugs and committing crimes including robbery and burglary. He committed his first known murder in June 1984, although in 2009 his DNA was found and linked to an earlier murder in San Francisco for which he was never charged.
Most of his crimes took place in and around Los Angeles and its suburbs, where he broke into homes and sexually assaulted and murdered multiple women. Satanic symbols, particularly the pentagram, were often found at the scenes of his murders.
Ramirez’s crime spree came just a few years after another brutal series of murders rocked LA in 1977 and 1978. The Hillside Strangler, later revealed to be two people — cousins Kenneth Bianchi and Angelo Buono Jr. — murdered 10 women and girls over a five-month period, and the killers left many of their victims’ bodies in the hills surrounding the city.
How was he caught?
Ramirez broke into the Mission Viego home of Inez Erickson and Bill Carns, both of whom survived the attack. Erickson later gave a detailed description of Ramirez, and police found a car he had used in the robbery. They found one fingerprint on the car and released a photo of him on August 29, 1985.
Two days later, Ramirez returned to LA from a trip he had made to Arizona. He walked into a convenience store in East LA, saw a picture of himself in a newspaper and fled. He tried to escape, but was chased by several Boyle Heights residents after they tried to steal a car. They beat him severely and police later arrived and arrested Ramirez.
How was he prosecuted?
After his arrest, Ramirez continued to refer to his Satanism during his trial. He was convicted in September 1989 of 13 murders, among other crimes, and never showed remorse. He was then sentenced to death. After spending many years on death row at San Quentin State Prison, he died of cancer in 2013.
What is his connection to ‘MaXXXine’?
Although Ramirez is never referred to by his real name in the film, the crime scene is littered with mysterious murders and satanic symbols.
In the trailers for “MaXXXine,” the Night Stalker is mentioned as a looming threat to LA, with newscasters claiming the killer is terrorizing the city.
An unknown figure seems to be following Maxine during her rise to Hollywood stardom, but is it the real Night Stalker? Only time will tell.