MANDY (2018)

          "The psychotic drowns in the same waters in which the mystic swims with delight"

 So I was at least mildly interested in seeing this one when it came out. Which for a new movie is not something I usually am but the trailer and the word of mouth from people that I normally trust piqued my interest. Not enough to actually go to a theater but it was mildly piqued anyway. I will say that the director here, with the snazzy Greek name Panos Cosmatos, managed to somehow make old Nicholas Cage not as annoying as he has been in everything I've been unfortunate enough to see him in over the last 20 years. He's also clearly has quite the eye for visual flair. The story here is about as simplistic as a typical kung fu movie with revenge being the driving force which, from my perspective, is not necessarily a detriment. Instead of kung fu though we get chainsaw-fu, bikers that look like those cenobites from HELLRAISER mixed with the gimp from PULP FICTION, bare penis, some bloody death scenes, someone gets burned alive and lots of various drugs are willingly and unwillingly ingested with a heavy LSD-influenced look to everything. I can see this appealing to every 13-year old boy out there, or those of us who can still tap into their hidden 13-year old mentality or maybe anyone who likes to stare at heavy/black metal record album covers and fantasize about what's going on in them. The one weird thing is Panos seems to have made everything look a bit foggy and soft though I guess that does help add to the whole dream-like feel of events. It did remind me a bit of Lucio Fulci's CONQUEST in that visual regard. In today's super-hi-def obsessed culture it's actually a pretty cool decision now that I think about it. I would recommend this one though it's not as deep as some folks seem to think and the film itself seems to desperately want to be.