Mandy (2018)

September 16, 2018

Directed by: Panos Cosmatos

Written by: Panos Cosmatos, Aaron Stewart-Ahn

Starring: Nicholas Cage, Andrea Riseborough, Linus Roache

Budget: $6,000,000

Quote: "...they lit her on FIRE! They were weirdo, hippie-types, whole bunch of 'em. And then there was some muscle - it didn't make any sense. There were bikers, and gnarly psychos, and... just crazy evil."

Trivia: The green glowing light that Mandy pulls out of the corpse during one of the animation sequences is a nod/homage to the glowing green orb featured in 1981's Heavy Metal



I'm writing this piece on Mandy almost a week after watching it because although I have been thinking about it ever since, I don't know what to say. It's hard to come up with the words to describe a movie like Mandy. It really seems to be one of a kind, but here I go: The movie is without a doubt one of the best movies I have ever seen! Visually, director Panos Cosmatos, creates a surreal and psychedelic world where the skies themselves carry emotions and a mystical quality to them. If you have ever experimented with DMT, you'll know what I mean. The score by Johan Johannson, released posthumously is beautiful and dark helping to build the otherworldly atmosphere that Cosmatos has created. The characters are so unique and the acting is great. I'll be the first to admit that I am not a fan of Nicholas Cage (aside from Leaving Las Vegas... dude can play a drunk!) but he gives one of his best performances in this film. Every aspect of the film is carefully crafted to create one of the most unique revenge films ever made.

The movie takes place in the Shadow Mountains of Eastern California (not too far away from Death Valley, the last known home of the Manson family. In this movie there will be many grim connections made) and follows Red (Nicholas Cage) who lives a quiet life a lumber jack and his girlfriend Mandy (Andrea Riseborough) who is an artist and works as a cashier in this apocalyptic world. They are both very much in love but there are hints that each had a darker past. One day as Mandy is walking to work, she is spotted by Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roche), the leader of a cult calling themselves the Children of a New Dawn. Jeremiah asks his follows to deliver the girl to him and one of them conjures up a demonic biker gang called the Black Skulls. After taking one of the cultists as a sacrifice, the Black Skulls break into Red and Mandy's house, capture them, and bring both to Jeremiah. Mandy is given a highly potent form of LSD and snake venom and after Jeremiah tries to seduce her with folk music (the comparison to Charles Manson are strong and purposeful... failed folk musician, cult of rabid followers, using sex and drugs to control group, grandeur sense of self... at one point he tries to explain that he was chosen by God because he is so special and that he was told by God to take whatever he wants) but fails (she begins laughing at his dick making him unable to get an erection) he orders her and Red killed. Mandy is burnt alive in front of Red who is also stabbed. Then things really get crazy...

I'm going to take a brief intermission in this plot synopsis to explain some of the incredible things the filmmakers have done so far. Highly influenced by the 1980s (who isn't nowadays?) Cosmatos used a special camera and technique to create a 1980s feel to the film. Although shot recently, the movie looks like it was shot in the 1980s. The filmmakers are also experts at using colors to convey emotions and build atmosphere. The whole movie after Red and Mandy's kidnappings takes place at night where the color on fog really gives the movie a supernatural feel. The movie takes place in California, but it is not the California we know. It seems like it is a California in some other dimension. Next, the characters are rich and the costumes terrifying resembling something out a Clive Barker movie. Summoned by a magic horn and appearing out of the shadows in Red and Mandy's bedroom, the Black Skulls are an imposing force. Finally the scene where Mandy is on LSD and Jeremiah is playing music is an animated sequence which pays homage to the 1980s animated movie Heavy Metal. The song, the animation, everything about it is meant to convey to viewers Mandy's psychedelic experience.

SPOILERS: If you haven't seen the movie yet and don't want the ending spoiled. Now might be a good time to stop reading.

...moving on. At this point in the film, when Red wakes up to find nothing left of his love except ashes, the movie moves pretty quickly into a revenge splatter film. I am talking a bloody, gory kill every few minutes. After seeing your love killed, Red first does what any of us would do, drinks a bottle of Vodka and screams a lot (a tribute to Leaving Las Vegas?). After that, he smiths together a battle axe, takes a crossbow, and goes out to avenge his love. He hunts down the Black Skull bikers, killing them one-by-one and then using their LSD cocaine mixture causing him to both freak out but also allowing him to see into a different plane, giving him insight into where Jeremiah and his follows are. Finding the Children of a New Dawn's bunker, Red kills two of the followers with his axe before engaging in an epic chainsaw battle (his opponent has one of the longest chainsaw ever seen in film). Red kills chainsaw guy and then decapitates a woman tossing her head at Jeremiah who now alone and frightened begs for mercy. This is a revenge film so there is no mercy and Red smashes Jeremiah's skull with his bare hands.

The blood and gore is excessive borrowing from the splatter film subgenre safely moving the movie out of the action/fantasy realm and placing it squarely as a horror movie. The gore is reminiscent of Sam Raimi's Evil Dead movies. Every gory kill emphasizes the brutality of this world and the rage within Red.

The filmmakers also create this wonderful fantastical world. It's the world of black metal bands and cheap fantasy paperbacks. It's the world of Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. It's the world similar to ours but still has the magic of the old world. A world where demons walk the earth and ancient rites are performed. It seems like Cosmatos is emerged in the world of psychedelics and mysticism and possibilities hidden in human consciousness. I won't get into this too much... but these elements permeate the film.

Either way, this is a damn good film and if you haven't seen it yet, see it! See it in the theater if you can, if you cannot, then watch it at home put turn that volume up loud!

...what's your thoughts?