Let’s sum up this 80s-channeling revenge shlock-horror flick – Mandy is a gory, bloody, surreal, LSD-fuelled heavy metal arthouse nightmare. And I mean that in the best way possible.
Mandy is director Panos Casmatos’ second film and it what lacks in plot it more than makes up for with a visual assault that is visceral and atmospheric at the same time.
It’s impossible to ascertain whether what one is seeing is a wild acid trip or not. But definitely, Mandy is not one for sophisticated narrative devices. Nope.
The story could not be simpler –
Outsiders Red Miller (Nic Cage) and Mandy Bloom (Andrea Riseborough) lead a loving and peaceful existence. When their pine-scented haven is savagely destroyed by a cult led by the sadistic Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache), Red is catapulted into a phantasmagoric journey filled with bloody vengeance and laced with fire.
Nic Cage is in his element, indeed, as the story allows him the latitude to unleash Red’s demons as he embarks on his quest for vengeance.
Overall, it’s less about the story being told and more about how the story is being told. By the film’s denouement, one is not quite sure whether to laugh or cry, cuz Mandy is either one big joke or a visionary expression of drug-addled madness.
You decide.
… still there’s more …