Review: Mandy

Image courtesy of XYZ Films.

There aren't adequate words to describe Panos Cosmatos' "Mandy," a nutzoid horror-action-fantasy hybrid that takes place in the 1980s in a world that seems to exist only in movies from that era. The picture utilizes Nicolas Cage's particular brand of lunacy much to the same degree that Paul Thomas Anderson was able to channel Adam Sandler's persona successfully in "Punch Drunk Love'" This is a film that could best be described as a blend of such influences as David Lynch, Dario Argento, King Crimson (whose "Starless" graces the opening credits), H.P. Lovecraft and acid-trip movies of the 1970s.

In the film, Cage plays a man named Red, who lives in the wilderness circa 1983 with his wife, Mandy (Andrea Riseborough), a wide eyed woman with a haunted look who wears heavy metal T-shirts and reads horror novels. Their peaceful existence is interrupted by a roving cult known as the Children of the New Dawn, which is led by a charismatic and arrogant blabbermouth named Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache). Sand wants Mandy for his own, so he ties up Red with barbed wire and makes his pitch - mostly in the nude - to Mandy after feeding her a mind-altering drug. After she laughs at him, he is enraged and Red is forced to observe a tragic ritual.

The second half of the film could best be described as an inspired Mad Max knockoff, that is, if Mad Max were a character in a mid-1980s Dio record. Cage visits a character played by Bill Duke, who supplies him with weapons, forges a massive sword out of a fire and hops into his muscle car, which flies down dark backroads as he pursues the cult. Sand is protected by a group of leather clad, spike wearing sadists - or, as Cage aptly puts it, "gnarly psychos" - who Red must combat first before he gets to the cult.

For those unaware of Cage's career trajectory, he went from an action movie star ("Con Air") and Oscar winning thespian ("Leaving Las Vegas") in the mid-1990s to early 2000s to a cult figure who, much like Christopher Walken, seemingly plays up his antic tics for maximum effect. In other words, it ain't a Nic Cage movie if there isn't some batshit crazy behavior on display. And, oh brother, is it on display here - most notably, during the culmination of an amazing sequence in which he fights the gnarly psychos in a living room where porn is playing on a TV and Cage indulges in some cocaine after finishing off one of his opponents in an over-the-top manner.

So, on the one hand, the antics here are hilarious, but Cosmatos - who was previously responsible for the visually ravishing "Beyond the Black Rainbow," which otherwise left me a little cold - does an excellent job of channeling Cage's insanity. There's also a meltdown scene for the ages involving a toilet and a bottle of Vodka. While Cage is unhinged in this film, it's also his best performance in some time.

"Mandy" might sound like a trashy B-rated movie, but its gorgeous visual setups and artistry elevate it beyond the level of exploitation filmmaking. Yes, the film is often silly, but it's equally as tragic, hypnotic, frightening and awe inspiring. For those seeking the next midnight movie phenomenon, look no further. "Mandy" offers up the goods in spades.