Oh, Mandy. You came and you gave..uh…I’m not entirely sure what, actually…
Mandy is a 2018 horror film directed by Panos Cosmatos and stars Nicolas Cage as Red Miller, whose peaceful existence is torn apart when a sadistic cult leader sets his sights on Red’s girlfriend, Mandy.
(This is the basic plot of Mandy, but man, it does not even come close to preparing the viewer for what they are about to witness)
I am ashamed to admit that I only found out about this gem almost a full two years after it was released.
My best friend lives on (almost) the other side of the country and during one of our annual video calls, she told me about an obscure horror movie starring Nicolas Cage called Mandy. What? Obscure Horror? NIC CAGE? Where the hell do I sign up???
I viewed the trailer and read up on the movie, as I usually do before-hand (apart from reviews, I tend to stay away from those before watching a movie if I can help it, I like going into the experience with no expectation – just look at what happened with Extraction).
Seeing as the both of us haven’t seen the film, are massive Nic Cage fans and the fact that we are in the first half 2020 (so we don’t have any other plans), we decided to watch it ‘together’.
This was the start of the ‘Bi-weekly Watch Party‘ (more film discussions to come).
WARNING: I’m about to go on and on about my love for this film and all its little details. This is your official Spoiler Alert.
I ABSOLUTELY ADORED MANDY!!
(There…I got it out of the way, in case I don’t make it blatantly obvious during the rest of this)
It’s hard to really decide where to begin with an appreciation post or analysis of a movie like Mandy (but I am still going to attempt it). It’s actually quite difficult to capture tonally and even narratively (despite it seemingly straight-forward, linear plot). I’ve seen on more than one occasion people describing it as an “80s Metal Band’s album art coming to life”, which I think is as close as anyone can come to accurately capture the overall visual experience of the movie.
Mandy essentially can be split into two parts.
The first hour is a slow-burning sequence of events that build up until this magnificent scene with Cage in a bathroom (more on this later). Then the second half of this movie begins; a blood-soaked revenge journey that includes a chainsaw standoff (like a sword fight, but with FRIGGIN’ CHAINSAWS).
After about 20 seconds of silent logos flashing by, you start to faintly hear synth music (with just a little bit of electric guitar thrown in for good measure), getting louder and more ominous as the logo intro comes to an end.
It’s like they set a certain tone to warn the viewer of what’s in store before the movie actually started.
The music continues and we get a black screen, with the following words appearing in big red letters (the font and layout of the text almost reminded me these shitty unofficial fan-made lyric videos you usually find online for Scandinavian Metal bands):
“When I die
Bury me deep
Lay two speakers at my feet
Put some headphones
Around my head
And rock ‘n’ roll me
When I’m dead.”
This does sound like something the weird kid who sat at the back of class had carved out on his pencil case, but it is an actual quote from Douglas Alan Roberts, a man incarcerated for robbery, kidnapping, and murder. These were some of the last words he spoke before his execution (by lethal injection) in April 2005.
The movie officially starts with a bird’s-eye view of a forest and the credits appear in the same blood-red font from earlier, not unlike the go-to style for opening credits Horror films had in the 1980s.
We see Red going about his day job of lumberjacking(?)…jacking lumber(?) He wears plaid and cuts down trees with chainsaws, okay… (This is not really a thing where I come from, so)
The first thing I noticed during this, was the emphasis the movie puts on a particular colour. All the colours seem to be muted, apart from the colour red. The inside of Red’s jacket, the detailing on the helicopter the lumberjacks use to go into the forest, the car he drives (even our main character’s first name), all red.
Before the 5 minute mark, we get our first trippy visual. Mandy is home smoking a pipe, listening to records and doing art (her work reminiscent of the covers usually found on 80s sci-fi and fantasy novels), that slowly transitions into a milieu announcement, in glittery blue disco-style lettering:
“The Shadowy Mountains. 1983 A.D.”
Red appears through the (unlocked) front door with a “Knock-Knock”, and Mandy playfully scolds him for scaring her.
He repeats himself and continues to tell her the following joke, before admiring the piece of art she is working on:
“Knock-Knock”
“Who’s there?”
“Erik Estrada”
“Erik Estrada, who?”
“Erik Estrada from CHiPS”
Again with the 80s references. (In case you haven’t noticed, Mandy is filled with little nuggets just to remind you of the fact that all of this takes place during the early to mid-’80s).
Mandy and Red are lying in bed, talking about planets. Their bedroom is a small area, just big enough for a bed, with walls made of glass, through which you can clearly see the forest and (almost unnatural) colourful night sky.
We see Red and Mandy in a small rowboat floating on top of an eerily still lake during the day.
The scene slowly transitions into a close-up of flames.
Red is sitting in the dark, the only light coming from the fire he is staring into. In the distance, Mandy slowly steps out of the black lake and walks towards where Red is sitting.
Then the viewer is thrown into the next scene of Mandy alone in the woods, following faint strange noises. (We can assume this might be a dream she is having, seeing it starts with her lying in bed next to a sleeping Red) She comes across the carcass of what looks like a baby deer. She kneels next to the body and we can see a single tear roll down her cheek.
The scene fades away into static on an old television screen.
Red and Mandy have fallen asleep on the couch while watching TV (and Mandy was woken by Red having a bad dream. She asks him what it was about, and Red tells her that he can’t remember).
Red mentions that he has been wondering if they should move, and Mandy tells him that she likes where they live, she thinks it’s peaceful and it feels like home. She proceeds to tell him a story from her childhood. (One day, her dad demonstrated to her and some of the other neighbourhood kids the best way to kill starlings)
This entire sequence of seemingly random events makes up most of the first half of the film. Scenes move slowly and include almost no dialogue. The little dialogue that is present, at face-value, seems unnecessary, but when really studied and actively taken in, tells the story of Mandy and Red’s relationship in a way. They have conversations about anything and everything (even the most trivial things like their favourite planets) and they tell each other stories from their past.
Not that I am an expert on these things, but isn’t that essentially what a relationship is? (Not just romantic relationships, but any kind of connection one would have with another human being)
As random as these scenes seem on the surface, they are an integral part of the story (which is why I felt I had to mention every single one of them), they help us to get to know Mandy and Red and their peaceful life together.
The scenes move at a slow and steady pace, almost evoking a sense of calm in the viewer at first. As they move on, the settings and subject matter become darker and more unnerving, but with the way every scene flows effortlessly (and beautifully) into the next, the strangeness of it all almost goes unnoticed, so to speak.
It’s only at the end of this string of scenes where you find yourself uncomfortable, and you cannot pinpoint the exact moment where you transitioned from the peacefulness you felt at the beginning of it all to the unnerved wreck you are currently while watching Mandy tell a story about baby birds being smashed to death with a crowbar.
I say this sequence forms a big part of the first half of the movie, not only because of its run-time but also because it almost readies you for the strange(r) turn this movie is about to take.
Mandy is reading a book, ‘Seeker of the Serpent’s Eye’ (surprise, surprise, the book’s cover is red). From what we can gather from the book’s title and the part we hear Mandy reading in this particular scene, the story involves a wretched warlock and his desire to acquire something that is not necessarily his for the taking (the book also mentions a crimson sky and blood-red sunlight, by the way).
The last bit of this foreshadowing scene fades away into red and we see Mandy walking down a road. A vehicle approaches and is slowly moving in the direction Mandy is coming from. The viewer is treated to a (very unnerving) close-up shot of each individual in the van, ending with the long-haired, eye-liner rocking man lounging in the passenger seat. He sees Mandy as she walks closer and is immediately mesmerised. He straightens up and continues to stare as the vehicle passes her.
This entire scene is literally in-your-face red like someone held up a sheet of red gel filter in front of the camera lens while it was being filmed.
We get introduced to the cult with another announcement in big red letters on a black screen.
“Children of the New Dawn”
Jeremiah (their leader and Mandy’s new admirer) is not okay. He is lying on a small bed in a backroom, sulking. One of his followers, an elderly woman, is grovelling at the bedside. Jeremiah is lashing out at the woman in between his little temper-tantrums. He goes on and on about how he feels naked without the woman and how it’s not about wanting her but needing her.
He summons a man he refers to as Brother Swan and demands that the woman from earlier to be brought to him.
Jeremiah asks Brother Swan if he has ‘The Horn of Abraxas’ (followed by a quick flash of the object Jeremiah is referring to). Swan assures his leader that he knows what to do and with a smile, Jeremiah tells him to “offer them the porker”. (The “porker” is one of the cult members, a young man, on the heavier side with bleach-blond curly hair – think *Nsync-era Justin Timberlake).
The style of this scene is a bit different from what the movie has done so far. The colours are less muted and more Hollywood-blockbuster, Michael-Bay-style, with your standard blue and orange colourisation. The introduction of the Children of the New Dawn has almost brought a disturbance in the film’s visuals up to now, a lot like the disturbance Jeremiah has brought to Red’s life the moment he laid eyes on Mandy (even though Red is not aware of this disturbance at this moment, the viewer already has gotten the sense that some shit is about to go down).
We see Mandy at work for the first time. She works behind the counter of a convenience store at a rest stop. One of the cult members (the same woman from earlier), enters and tries to make small talk and Mandy mentions living in a house near Crystal Lake (stop telling strangers where you live, dammit Mandy). The woman pays as the awkward conversation ends and leaves the store with a casual “See ya later”.
Later, presumably that same night, we see Brother Swan and some of the other male members of the CotND, sitting in a car outside of Mandy and Red’s lake-side cabin.
Swan steps out of the vehicle, takes out a pyramid-shaped, flute thingy (the Horn of Abraxas) and blows on it. He gets back in the car and declares, “Now we wait”
The young man in the passenger seat sighs audibly (and deliberately) and starts playing with the electric window. He pushes the button and the window noisily goes down, once it’s open all the way, he presses another button and the window closes at the same tempo and volume. He continues doing this for quite some time. We wait anxiously with the party, listening to the window being opened and closed repeatedly.
I remember during this scene my breathing came to a halt, I was so enthralled with what was happening on-screen, it felt like the tension was creeping through my monitor and into the room I sitting and watching the movie in. I even got a little fright when my phone suddenly went off (my friend and I text during these watch parties of ours).
The man was about to complain about the waiting when he is silenced by Brother Swan and told to listen.
The air around them turns misty and red. The camera slowly glides to one side and in the distance, we see a motorcycle gang, The Black Skulls (yup, that is what they’re actually called, but we only learn this later) approaching from within the wooded area nearby. Swan, once again, steps out of the vehicle to greet the newcomers, and fear flashes across his face (only for a second, though). We get a view of the gang up-close and see that they aren’t exactly human, more demon-like figures in faux-leather motorcycle gear (they share more than a passing resemblance to the Cenobites from Hellraiser).
Swan steps forward and hands a jar of goo (that is the best I could describe the contents of the jar) to the Skulls’ leader, who swallows it in one big gulp.
“Blood for blood” a groggy voice speaks from somewhere beneath the shit-covered face of the demon biker, to which Swan replies, “First thing’s first”.
Red and Mandy are intensely watching some shitty show while eating their TV Dinners. Red stands on the porch, having a cigarette and scanning the now-empty front yard.
Red and Mandy are both asleep, as the same eerie red mist consumes the air outside their bedroom and we see the demon biker squad standing at the edge of the forest.The lights start to flicker inside Red and Mandy’s house. As the lights flash on and off we see the biker gang approaching and eventually attacking the sleeping couple, with the cult members watching (we also see porker JT being dragged away screaming by one of the Skulls).
The lights stop flickering and the screen goes pitch-black.
“Don’t worry. Those scary men are gone now.” We hear the elderly woman speak. “They got what they came for and they’re gone.”
Mandy is tied to a chair in the kitchen. The only two women in the cult are with her. One holds her down while the other forces a drop of liquid into her eye. The woman talks about Jeremiah and how responsibility now falls on Mandy because of how special he thinks she is, all while removing a large wasp-like bug from a jar and bringing it to Mandy’s throat. The wasp stings Mandy’s neck (“the cherry on top” the older woman calls it), and everything goes blurry and starts moving slower (voices sound slower and deeper as well – everything happens in slow-mo if you will).
The women lead Mandy down the red and dimly lit hallway to the living room where the rest of the cult, including Jeremiah, is waiting and forces Mandy onto a chair. She is finding it hard to concentrate, thanks to whatever effect those eye-drops and that wasp stinger is having on her. Jeremiah demands that Mandy looks at him and then proceeds to kiss his own ass for almost 10 minutes straight. He plays his shitty music on the record player (comparing his music to the “sensational” Carpenters). He moves closer to Mandy and ends up face to face with her. As he tells her about this message he received from up-above about how he should take whatever he feels is rightfully his (and Jeremiah has this idea that this includes everything), he goes on and on about his “wants” and “needs” and even his “pleasures”.
This speech of his is largely shot from Mandy’s point of view, we see exactly what Mandy sees and how she sees it in her current state (close-up of just his face, morphing from his own to Mandy’s and back to his own, continuously).
Jeremiah straightens up and tells Mandy that they are both special, he removes his robe, stands naked in front of her and suggests that they “be special together” (I feel that this is a good time to remind you that this is happening in front of the entirety of the cult).
After a few moments of silence, Mandy asks if the music playing is one of Jeremiah’s songs. When he answers “yes”, she asks if the song is about him. He answers “yes” a second time and suddenly Mandy breaks into hysterical laughter. Angrily Jeremiah covers himself, yells at her to shut up and the rest of the people to look away. The more he shouts “shut up”, the more forced and sarcastic Mandy’s laugh gets.
The scene abruptly cuts to Red outside. He is tied to a fence with barbed wire, severely injured, but still breathing (I know, I was worried about Nic Cage there for a second too).
Jeremiah is having a conversation with himself in a mirror. “Tell me what to do?” he asks repeatedly, on the verge of tears. And suddenly his demeanour changes (almost like someone took over his body for a second) and he whispers to his reflection. “Don’t doubt yourself”.
Jeremiah goes outside to where Red is still wired to the fence. He stands next to Red and tells him that he and “that little whore” of his (referring to Mandy, the same woman he called “special” only a few moments earlier) think they know what love is, but they don’t. He then puts on a little show, to demonstrate to Red what actual love is by having one of his followers play Russian Roulette (because he asked her to). Jeremiah stabs Red with a sacred blade and tells him that they “wasted the chemist finest” (the goo-filled jar) on Red’s whore and that they both “shall see that the cleansing power of fire cannot be reasoned with”. Mandy is carried out of the house in a bag, strung up, and set on fire. (We hear the words: “the darker the whore, the brighter the flame”)
Red is tied up, gagged with barbed wire and forced to watch the love of his life being burned alive during one of the most agonising (can-this-just-end) scenes I have witnessed in a long time.
After Jeremiah and his followers leave, Red frees himself and crawls to his love’s smoking remains. The ash that was once Mandy blows away, along with the final piece of Red’s former life.
Red enters his now empty house, wearing nothing but his Tiger t-shirt and a pair of tighty-whiteys (presumably what he slept in).
We are treated to a nightmare-inducing ‘Goblin Mac & Cheese’ advert playing on TV as Red enters his living room followed by an Emergency Broadcast System Test.
There is a trippy cartoon visual of a dark-haired woman, her flesh rotting and falling from her body as she turns around and looks into the camera, and Red wakes up in an empty bed
He enters the bathroom.
Here it is, The Scene.
Red’s bathroom is covered in the ugliest 70s orange-patterned wallpaper you have ever seen (I need this in my house).
Almost the entire scene plays off in one still shot (Wes Anderson style). Red grabs a bottle of liquor from the cabinet underneath the sink. (At this point, some might ask, “Why the liquor in the bathroom cabinet?” and to them, I would say “We are an hour into Mandy, and this is the question you chose to ask? Get your shit together, man!”) He takes a big gulp of alcohol, throws some out onto his wounds and continues drinking. He cries out in pain and sobs uncontrollably while destroying everything he can get his hands on. He sits down on the toilet seat and continues to cry (and drink). The camera slowly moves (for the first time in the bathroom scene) closer to Red. A flash of anger clouds Red’s features and the scene ends.
Now, I have not actively gone and looked, but I am almost a 100% sure that this scene has been Meme’d and GIF’d all over the interwebs by now (I mean, it is Nic Cage over-acting in one of the most memorably ugly bathrooms you’ve ever laid eyes on – how can it not be?), but this has got be one of the best scenes in an already great film (I would go as far as to say one of the best scenes ever, in any movie). It is a beautifully shot moment of a grieving man reacting to probably the most traumatising thing he has and will ever experience. It makes one look past all of the past blunders, and really remember what an amazing actor Cage truly is (crazy-eyes and unnecessary shouting included). I liked (and I mean truly liked) the movie up until this scene, but this scene made me realise that I am, in fact, in love with the film.
The bathroom scene marks the end of the first half of the film. Now, you might ask “What? We are already an hour in and this is what we have to show for? A glimpse of a demonic biker-gang, an off-screen sacrifice and crazy Nic Cage?”
(First of all, if these are your thoughts so far, Are you okay? Like for real? Because from where I’m standing, it is impossible to not be satisfied by Crazy Nicolas Cage, Mandy could’ve been two hours straight of Cage in that bathroom and I would still be writing love letters to the film)
Remember, we are only halfway through, a lot still needs to happen. The movie you are promised in the trailer (and were probably expecting) is swiftly on its way. Despite its run-time and slow pace, the first half of the movie flew by (for me at least, it did) and was absolutely necessary. I’ve always felt that fleshed-out characters are the most important part of any movie. It’s the thing that makes us want to follow our main character into battle (even if they are flawed).
Look at Red, for instance, we have spent so much time with him, we know him (even relate to him on a certain level). If the movie immediately started with the CotND taking Mandy away from Red, we wouldn’t have felt the loss that Red is feeling now (because of the first half, we, as viewers, have also lost Mandy), we wouldn’t hate Jeremiah and his followers as much as we do now and we wouldn’t have been as eager as we are now to be Red’s cheerleaders as he wanders off into the wilderness to beat the living shit out of everyone who took his life away from him.
Before his revenge journey officially starts, Red visits an old friend, Caruthers, to pick up supplies (specifically a crossbow named ‘Reaper’). Red tells Caruthers his story (in between angry sobs). He tells him that he is hunting “Hippy Jesus-freaks” and demon bikers. Caruthers tells Red everything he knows about the Black Skulls (this is the first time that we get some background on the biker-gang). Nobody truly knows where these guys came from, but as truck drivers started dying, prostitutes vanishing and gutted bodies were left on doorsteps, people started to talk. The word on the street is that the Skulls were once your run-of-the-mill biker gang who sold drugs part-time, until one day they were given a tainted batch of LSD which turned them into these…things. Caruthers warns Red that if Hunting Season has opened for these entities, Red needs to know that his chances of survival are low. Red tells Caruthers that he shouldn’t be so negative (I legitimately laughed out loud at this – damn Cage is just so great). Caruthers reluctantly continues; the last he heard, the gang was seen near “Spirit River”, and apparently are always in unbearable pain, but “they fucking love it” (see! Told you! Cenobites!).
We then get this great scene with Red forging a fantasy axe-like weapon – it comes with tension-filled synth music, fire and lots of lens flare. (To quote my friend in our group chat “Nic Cage with sunglasses and weird axe thingy = bae”).
We see the film’s title in (oh-so-metal) red font and the second part of the movie officially starts. (As I’ve said before, Mandy is really two movies disguised as one long feature).
Red races through the forest, the red of his car’s lights illuminating the space around his vehicle.
From his hiding place, he manages to hit one of the gang members with an arrow from Reaper and attempts to run the now de-biked Skull over with his car, but as he hits discount Pinhead, his car rolls down the side of the road and the screen fades to a second trippy cartoon visual as we see the rest of the motorcycles approach through the cracked windscreen.
Red wakes up in a dark room, tied to a radiator. He screams out in pain when he sees his hand nailed into the ground and we hear strange noises coming from the other room.
One of the gang members enters and slices at Red’s chest, to which he scolds the demon for ruining his favourite shirt. Red manages to free his one hand, throws the Skull down what looks like an elevator shaft and de-nails his other hand.
Red finds a craft knife and proceeds to explore the rest of the house (I think I’ve actually seen this house on an episode of Hoarders: Buried Alive, come to think of it).
There is a quick flash of a dead couple in an awkward position (presumably the actual owners of the house the Black Skulls have now inhabited).
Red interrupts another member (this one has a knife for a penis) as he’s doing drugs and watching (very vanilla) porn. The two get into a tumble and the demon falls dick first into the floor and gets stuck. Red slits his throat and blood sprays across his face. The Skull from earlier reappears and Red, now covered in blood (the only thing not stained with red, is Cage’s distinctive crazy eyes) easily takes him out.
Red rummages through the house and finds his axe and crossbow. In between all the drug paraphernalia and empty take away boxes, he finds a jar of goop (like the jar Brother Swan gave to the gang earlier). For some inexplicable reason, Red sticks his finger into the jar and tastes some of it. Immediately, images flash before us; the sun, different crimson landscapes and Red’s face literally melting.
It dawns on you as quickly as the flashing images appeared on the screen. Red just ingested (probably tainted) LSD.
(Maybe the stories of where the Black Skulls came from, are true and Jeremiah’s line from earlier – about wasting the Chemist’s finest on Red’s whore, Mandy – starts to make sense)
Red exits the house through a window on the second storey and jumps off of the roof (you want to start believing that since Red took that sample of goo, he has become stronger, more resilient – almost as if he has gained supernatural powers).
Outside, Red kills the last of the motorcycle gang with his axe (he lights a half-smoked cigarette with the decapitated, burning head of his last victim, because why the hell not).
Red continues on his journey, riding through the red-lit woods on a stolen motorcycle.
He tracks down The Chemist (largely thanks to the drug-fueled visions he is having) in a lab disguised as a warehouse. The Chemist sees that Red has been wronged and tells him that he can find the “Children”.
This scene is not as straightforward as I’ve described it, obviously. It includes a tiger, earthworms tangled around Red’s feet and when the Chemist speaks, he does so in prophecy-like slow-mo.
Red drives through mountains, gets stuck in some mud and we get another cartoon scene of a naked woman removing a green gem from an injured monster (reminiscent of the part Mandy read earlier from Seeker of the Serpent’s Eye).
He arrives at the cult’s hideout, first killing Brother Swan and let’s one of the female members go unharmed. The next to go is another of the male members (the one who was playing with the car window) when Red throws his axe thingy through his skull as he is polishing one of the cars.
The last member is whittling as Red approaches, sees a chainsaw and picks it up.
(Here it comes, guys!)
He sees Red approach and picks up his own (bigger) chainsaw. Red struggles to start his saw but still manages to block his opponent’s blows. For a moment it seems as if Red is defeated, but he manages to pick up some chains and forces the man onto his own chainsaw.
After working his way through the cult, Red enters a pyramid. He walks through red hallways as the music builds up. (You ever been to a metal music fest? The music you hear in between sets when the next band is doing their soundcheck. That’s the music that plays as Red searches for Jeremiah)
He comes across the older woman. She tries to persuade Red to spare her (by telling him how good she is at the sex), but it seems like Red isn’t really listening.
The screen fades to black.
Red finds Jeremiah in a red room, his back to the entrance, naked, and sensually stroking the walls. Jeremiah hears someone approach and yells out to the person to not enter, “God is in this room”.
Red throws the woman’s head, Jeremiah turns around screaming and recognises Red. The lights slowly turn off and on again repeatedly as Red moves closer. Jeremiah lectures and taunts Red about the fact that Red is so beneath him and cannot do him any harm. Red speaks for the first time and his voice and choice of words are similar to the Chemist’s earlier. Jeremiah continues with his speech (he likes the sound of his own voice doesn’t he?), but this time with less conviction as he starts to bargain with Red. Red takes Jeremiah’s (who has resorted to begging at this point) head in his hands.
Jeremiah is just about to go back to his own narcissistic self (he demands that Red kneel before him and not the other way around, as he carries God’s gift inside of him) when Red crushes his skull with his bare hands.
Red sets everything on fire and leaves. He thinks back on moments he had with Mandy and sees her sit next to him the car as he drives away from the carnage.
The movie then ends with Red driving down a road in a landscape reminiscent of Mandy’s weird sci-fi art.
As you can see, Mandy’s plot is linear in the truest form. No real flashbacks, no timeline jumps, no plot twists, nothing like that. It’s a straightforward ‘this happens, and then this happens, and then this happens’ structure, but it still leaves its viewer confused at the end. After you have watched it, you might have to actually go and sit and think hard about the movie (maybe even watch it a second time) just to see if you can wrap your head around it.
There are really only two things you can be absolutely sure about at the end of this film (without even thinking about it):
- This film will stay with you. You will remember this movie. It’s memorable, not only because it’s so uniquely strange and not easily confused with other films, but it also makes the viewer feel things (whether it’s disgust, awe, love, hate, or uneasiness) – whether you liked it or not, Mandy made you feel something, and whatever it made you feel (and whether those feelings were positive or negative), that will stay with you for quite some time.
- No one (and I do mean no one) else could’ve played Red Miller in this film. Cage was born to play this role. His style of acting – that fine line between absolute brilliance and cheesy over-acting that Cage walks so beautifully – is exactly what this movie needed. I’ve tried (and believe me, I’ve thought about this on many occasions) to picture other actors in this role, and I simply can’t. When I think Red from Mandy I see the sweetheart with the crazy eyes and toothy smile (something that only Cage has managed to master).
I have mentioned multiple times, Mandy is essentially two films in one, both an important part of the story as a whole. The first part does not only give the viewer background on most of the major players of the tale but serves as foreshadowing for the second part. On multiple occasions, things happen during the second half that refers back to something in the first half.
Then there is also the emphasis on the colour red. In the beginning, it’s more subtle, popping up here and there or used as an indicator of something important (“Here look at this thing! Remember it later!”) and feels almost like little warnings of the danger to come. As the movie progresses the use of red is more in-your-face – gone are the subtle warnings; the danger is upon us, and nothing can be done about it.
The film is also quite ambiguous as to whether there are supernatural forces at work. Yes, the movie has demons in it (which is arguably the definition of supernatural), but most of the supernatural element is explained away by the origins of the Black Skulls (and even more so by Red, a normal man, ingesting some of the gang’s LSD that affects him in a seemingly supernatural way as well). On the other hand, the Black Skulls can be summoned with a strange, ancient object and blood sacrifice, which scores a point for the supernatural side.
As for the film’s ending. Was it a flashback? Did Mandy materialise in front of Red to let him know that she has been avenged? Is Red still tripping balls because he ingests strange substances he finds in demon-infested houses? Who knows? This one, I honestly believe is up to the viewer to decide.
I sit here writing this analysis, trying to actually capture the meaning of the movie (or at the very least, what I took from it), and as I put down my last point in the previous sentence, it dawns on me.
I realise that maybe Cosmatos made this ambiguous film on purpose. It’s not that he took a straightforward plot and wrapped it in nostalgia, body horror and weird Lynchian surrealism just because, but maybe he wanted his viewers to sit and watch this film intently, trying to figure out what the hell he is trying to tell us. Maybe he wanted us to feel something (anything) that would plague us until we can pinpoint what exactly it was in the movie that evoked this particular feeling. Maybe he wanted the audience to make their own assumptions and come to their own conclusions about, not only what the ending meant, but what the entire movie meant to the specific viewer as a whole.
Don’t you just love it when filmmakers do that? 🙂
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