Mandy (2018

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Mina Meiss

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Aug 4, 2024, 7:27:27 PM8/4/24

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NicolasCage has made some crazy movies over ther past four decades. Some of them have fallen flat, some of them rightly so. His bombastic and unpredictable style lends itself to the more eccentric material he has chosen to convey. As he has admitted himself, sometimes it works, sometimes it does not. However, the epic fantasy horror revenge thriller Mandy (2018) is probably one of the best films in his entire back catalogue, and his manic, crazy-eyed leanings are put to perfect use in this exceptional piece of cinema.

Two important elements of Mandy are provided by the incredible cinematography by Benjamin Loeb and the hauntingly beautiful, synth-soaked score by the late Jhann Jhannsson. The bold use of colour is incredibly significant here, with each scene being drenched in a single primary veneer of light and spectacle that is impossible to forget.

The casting and performances are near perfect. Cage is left to run free as the pain-fuelled angel of vengeance, let loose on an evil so insipid that we rejoice in every blow he reigns down on each of the sick and twisted antagonists on his extensive list. These ghoulish characters are perfect examples of the slack-jawed, inbred hillbilly types that we have been fearing since watching The Hills Have Eyes or Deliverance, all those years ago.

I highly recommend this film to fans of the horror genre and anyone who may have wrote Cage off for some of his recent endeavours will be overjoyed to see a return to form in this incredibly sensuous and at times, hilarious film. It did not perform well at the box office but has gone on to prove a cult favourite with movie-lovers, so if this one slipped past you in the middle of the night when released a few years ago, make sure you wake up and throw it on before someone summons a gang of demon bikers and comes for you in the middle of the night!

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