Review of Mandy (2018) by Trueneutral — 17 Dec 2018

Mandy is a trip from tranquil normalcy to psychedelic horror that blurs the lines between reality, fantasy and drug induced psychosis. It is not for someone who needs immediate gratification. I will try not to spoil the plot and will only reference events revealed in the trailer.

The first half establishes the characters of Red and Mandy, a lumberjack and an artist who have found peace in each others arms. They are trying their best to live happily isolated from the rest of civilization until one day darkness invades their sanctuary. The second half is an odyssey of bloody vengeance that sees the human psyche twisting and contorting like the branches of the blackened forest until it can scarcely be recognized as human. The contrast between the two halves is startling, the film goes from 1 to 11 and Cage's reactions to what he is facing are not out of place. They capture the terror of a normal man faced with an unspeakable malice he can't understand.

My conclusion; This film takes the classic character of the woodsman hunting down the evil warlock to avenge his lost love and adapts him for a modern day setting. His adversaries are abominations in black armor. Are they simply bikers driven to extreme psychosis through substance abuse or something mystical, ethereal and evil? Is the cult leader simply mad or is there truly some sort of monstrous power manipulating the events that transpire? Its impossible to tell as the protagonists perception becomes more and more unreliable. Thats the genius of this film. It blurs the line between fantastical dark fairytale and realistic psychological horror.