Mandy (Panos Cosmatos, September 14, 2018) Movie

This film deserves it's own thread. I had the chance to watch it a few nights ago and was completely blown away. Easily my favorite movie of 2018 so far, might be my favorite of the last five years. I plan on watching it again in a few days, but wow. Beautiful visuals throughout, some of the most unique lighting and color use I've ever seen. Johann Johannsson tied the film together with an incredible score, "Mandy's Love Theme" is beautiful. I hope to own the soundtrack on vinyl soon. I haven't been able to get this out of my head and it's honestly inspired me. Might write up an essay on it later. I only wish I could have seen it on the big screen, was really hoping for more theaters to be showing this but unfortunately this was not the case. It's an instant cult classic, and I hope more and more people give it a chance.

 

Dying to see this

 

Absolutely loved it. Cage goes over the top and batshit, but I think he puts in a genuinely great performance as well. It looks great, it's metal as fuck and just...awesome.

I'm bummed I couldn't see it in a theater.

 

Sooooo good

 

my favorite film of the year

 

This was...uh...I'm not sure what this was.

Either the worst thing I've ever seen or the best.

 

Already said this in the horror thread but, my friends and I drove out to the closest theater we could find that was playing this and saw it without having seen a single trailer or knowing anything about the film. I was in utter disbelief the entire time.

Very glad I saw it in a theater, although being high during it gave me such existential dread for two hours.

 

I wanted to tell everyone I know about this film after watching it, but realized it might not be everyone's cup of tea. Can't wait to own it and watch it again.

 

This was fucking insane and I loved it.

 

Cheddar Goblin: The Unbelievable True Story Behind ‘Mandy’s Breakout Moment | Inverse

“It was a crazy shoot,” Morton recalls. “20 gallons of mac and cheese mixed with pineapple Faygo and lemon Jello. So it really kind of smelled like vomit. Those kids had to get puked on for like six hours straight.”

 

I think this appears on Shudder today. Really excited to check this out if it is.

 

make sure you watch it at night

 

I know next to nothing about Mandy, despite Cage being in it and the rave reviews it's getting from horror fans. I can't wait until it hits Shudder.

 

Don't even watch the trailer

 

I just watched this on Shudder and I already want to watch it again. It’s two hours and I want it to be longer. Everything about it was awesome. I hate that Shudder doesn’t have subtitles though. Excellent film. I can tell it’s by the same director of Beyond the Black Rainbow.

 

This was really stunning and insane in the best ways. A brief list of things I loved about this:

Mandy's monologue about the starlings
The colored filters / psychedelic visuals
Jeremiah's face blending with Mandy's
Mandy laughing at Jeremiah
Red, still bleeding profusely and not wearing pants, chugging vodka in the bathroom after Mandy is killed
Cheddar Goblin
"Don't be negative"
Red discovering a substance each time he kills someone (the coke, the lsd, and ESPECIALLY the cigarette which he lights on fucking Marlene's severed flaming head)
The final showdown with Jeremiah was also really captivating

I'm curious as to what people think of the actual message of the film. Clearly it's a revenge story, but there's so much more than that. The dialogue is gorgeous and very thought-provoking. Because it's such a technically impressive film, I'd like to see it again to really focus on the narrative more. I would also love to see this with someone who hasn't seen before.

 

I have nothing new to add then what's already been said, but just saw it and loved it. Up there with my favorites of the 2018 for me, but doesn't compete with Overlord for my clear favorite

 

I finally got to see this recently and I was 100% on board with pretty much every aspect up until Cage was tied up and they burned Mandy in front of him. It was everything I was hoping for. Unfortunately every scene afterward felt like it was made by different people with different intentions than the first. I love style over substance in movies and was hoping it would continue down that road, but it felt like a sporadic mess to me. I was just praying for it to end for the last 30 minutes or so. I'm pretty disappointed because I'm a huge Cage fan and while he was great in it, everything else in that latter half just bored the hell out of me.

 

While I agree there was a tonal change after Mandy's death, I didn't feel like it was at all jarring after the psychedelic trip of the first half of the film. That tonal shift is significant in developing the narrative and Cage's character--he becomes a broken man hellbent on vengeance and that emotional experience is lucidly portrayed onscreen.

Was it the revenge plot that turned you off or the technical aspects of the film that didn't carry over for you?

 

That's when the movie takes off and becomes amazing.

 

I watched the first half of this the other night and then I found out that it's playing at midnight at my local theater this weekend, so I turned it off and I'll wait to see it on the big screen.

 

I think the tonal shift after Mandy burning is that it started leaning too heavily on humor, which is probably the most subjective thing about movies in general and for me, I was rolling my eyes at the humor instead of reveling in it. The cheese goblin, his quips to the demons in their house, the drug scene, etc... none of that worked for me. I was way, way more into the psychedelic, ambiguous nightmare vibe of the first half and while I like a good ol' revenge plot, the humor really derailed it for me. The jokes pulled me out of every scene they were in.

 

I definitely prefer the second half over the first

 

I do feel like both halves work so well together. If the whole movie was like the first though, I think I'd be too bored and if it was too balls to the wall crazy the whole time, I don't think it'd stand out too much.