Review of Mandy (2018) by Mycatbroughtme — 19 Sep 2018

The trailer for this film is a work of art and is what got me so excited to see "Mandy" in the first place. The actual movie is a colossal let-down. My greatest complaints are these: the film isn't gory enough, and the Manson-like antagonist is an idiot.

Though it'll likely prove gruesome enough for some, the film prominently features Cage's character wielding an ornately-forged chopper-upper that performs 90% of its dirty work offscreen! I expected to enjoy a continuous spectacle of limbs, torsos, and heads flayed before my hungering eyes, but the film's measley budget, $ 6M or so, most likely didn't allow for it, so you get a dollop here and there, with the fattest sum probably paying for the prosthetic used in the final scene. So, no blood frenzy like I was hoping.

And second, the chief baddie doesn't have the charisma as (name your cult leader) has in their pinkie fingers. As written and portrayed, he's a dim-witted, dime-store holy man who couldn't convince me to follow him to a house-fire much less into his seedy little sex cult. Manson had a vagabond charm, Jim Jones had stage presence, Koresh had a honeyed tongue. This guy, this Jeremiah Sand? Nada. The attraction his groupies have for him is therefore baffling.

Visually, the movie is fever-dream hypnotic and atmospheric and features a great soundtrack, but the characterizations and crude plot are underbaked as hell. More effort was required than was given.

Also: Bill Duke is criminally underutilized.