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Review: ‘Mandy’ Is A Berserk, Genre Busting, Revenge Epic

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Where to even begin? Panos Cosmatos, director of 2012’s genre melting Beyond The Black Rainbow is back with another borderline indefinable movie that is another audio-visual feast for the eyes. And he’s brought Nicolas Cage along for the ride, front and center. Mandy is a movie like few others.

Image via IMDB

The story, set in the Californian Shadow Mountains circa 1983, Red Miller (Nicolas Cage) leads a quiet and comfy life as a lumberjack with his beloved Mandy Bloom (Andrea Louise Riseborough). Their happiness is brought to an abrupt end when Mandy catches the eye of cult leader and drug kingpin Jeremiah Sand (Linus Roache) and he decides to take her as his own. In the aftermath, Red has become enraged beyond comprehension, arms himself to the teeth, and vows revenge against Sand, his zealots, and his psychotic minions.

Image via IMDB

That’s as basic a presence as I can provide. Per Cosmatos’ usual style, the film carries a lot of ambiguity and interpretation- and is all the better for it. Though it is definitely far more of a narrative film than Beyond The Black Rainbow and a bit more straightforward, it’s something that needs to be experienced. I was fortunate enough to attend a screening with Cosmatos, Cage, and Roache in attendance, and the director gave us some insight into the creation of the film: He wanted to make ‘the antidote’ to BTBR and he wanted to make a distilled action/revenge movie. He succeeded in both objectives by leaps and bounds. Mandy is aggressive, violent, loud, and angry as opposed to BTBR‘s cold and methodical sci-fi story.

Image via IMDB

In terms of being an action/revenge movie, it checks every box in the genre and makes some new ones. It brings to mind everything from Death Wish, to Phantasm to all manner of influences that blend into something entirely new and beautiful. Featuring a hypnotic score by the late Jóhann Jóhannsson with synth tracks that haunt during the scenes of dread and creepiness and peaks into cries for battle during Red’s quest for revenge.

Nicolas Cage truly shines in the role of Red Miller, and what is assuredly one of the Oscar winner’s best performances on screen. Cage has garnered a reputation for his memorable, over the top scenes, and in Mandy that is stretched to the entire second half of the movie. Red in his domestic and work life is just a guy wanting to live his life and love Mandy, but when push comes to shove, he let’s loose an Incredible Hulk level of rage against his enemies and enacts brutal vengeance against them. Cage’s performance is exemplary, because the sheer tsunami of emotions he unleashes really cements his character and highlights his spree. And as reported previously reported, Cage takes some cues from everyone’s favorite summer camp slasher, Jason Voorhees. Fueled by madness, drugs, and adrenaline, Red becomes a force to be reckoned with and gets fairly creative and brutal with some finishing kills.

Image via IMDB

The villains in the movie stand out in their own ways as well. Jeremiah Sand is a cult leader and former folk rocker in the vein of Charlie Manson, with an emphasis made on his toxic influence and misogyny, lashing out at his followers more often than his perceived enemies. He’s the flipside to Beyond The Black Rainbow‘s main antagonist, the psycho psychologist Dr. Barry Nyle played chillingly by Michael Rogers. While Barry was cold, calculating, and methodical, Jeremiah has a hairtrigger temper, childish tantrums, and lives a hedonistic lifestyle. While Barry dons a cold black suit toward the end, Jeremiah wears a stark white robe when trying to indoctrinate Mandy as ‘his’ property. Though his strung-out ‘brothers’ and ‘sisters’ act as his main minions, he has some genuinely terrifying allies. A quartet of insane, hyper-violent bikers called ‘The Black Skulls’. Summoned by blood and drugs, they enact Jeremiah’s horrifying will. These four definitely stand-out as antagonists, like a cross between the Hellraiser cenobites, The Plague duo of hitmen from Hobo With A Shotgun, and an Iron Maiden album cover. Needless to say, the fight between them and Red is unforgettable.

Image via IMDB

Which is the only issue I had with Mandy, Red faces off with The Black Skulls and after this excellent set-piece and series of duels, the pacing slows down a little bit… with the exception fo the equally stand-out chainsaw duel. That issue aside, Mandy is everything I could have ever wanted and never realized I would have wanted in such a movie. It is an absurd homage to the 80’s movies where one man can seek justice for a wrong-doing while heaping on an other-worldly experience on top of it. Even if you don’t think it’s your thing, I cannot recommend Mandy enough. It’s a spiritual experience.

Mandy is  now available in select theaters and VOD and will be available on Blu-Ray October 30th. Just in time for Halloween.

Image via IMDB

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Russell Crowe To Star in Another Exorcism Movie & It’s Not a Sequel

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Maybe it’s because The Exorcist just celebrated its 50th-anniversary last year, or maybe it’s because aging Academy Award-winning actors aren’t too proud to take on obscure roles, but Russell Crowe is visiting the Devil once again in yet another possession film. And it’s not related to his last one, The Pope’s Exorcist.

According to Collider, the film titled The Exorcism was originally going to be released under the name The Georgetown Project. Rights for its North American release were once in the hands of Miramax but then went to Vertical Entertainment. It will release on June 7 in theaters then head over to Shudder for subscribers.

Crowe will also star in this year’s upcoming Kraven the Hunter which is set to drop in theaters on August 30.

As for The Exorcism, Collider provides us with what it’s about:

“The film centers around actor Anthony Miller (Crowe), whose troubles come to the forefront as he shoots a supernatural horror movie. His estranged daughter (Ryan Simpkins) has to figure out whether he’s lapsing into his past addictions, or if something even more horrific is occurring. “

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New F-Bomb Laden ‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Trailer: Bloody Buddy Movie

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Deadpool & Wolverine might be the buddy movie of the decade. The two heterodox superheroes are back in the latest trailer for the summer blockbuster, this time with more f-bombs than a gangster film.

‘Deadpool & Wolverine’ Movie Trailer

This time the focus is on Wolverine played by Hugh Jackman. The adamantium-infused X-Man is having a bit of a pity party when Deadpool (Ryan Reynolds) arrives on the scene who then tries to convince him to team up for selfish reasons. The result is a profanity-filled trailer with a Strange surprise at the end.

Deadpool & Wolverine is one of the most anticipated movies of the year. It comes out on July 26. Here is the latest trailer, and we suggest if you are at work and your space isn’t private, you might want to put in headphones.

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Original Blair Witch Cast Ask Lionsgate for Retroactive Residuals in Light of New Film

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The Blair Witch Project Cast

Jason Blum is planning to reboot The Blair Witch Project for the second time. That’s a fairly large task considering none of the reboots or sequels have managed to capture the magic of the 1999 film that brought found footage into the mainstream.

This idea has not been lost on the original Blair Witch cast, who has recently reached out to Lionsgate to ask for what they feel is fair compensation for their role in the pivotal film. Lionsgate gained access to The Blair Witch Project in 2003 when they purchased Artisan Entertainment.

Blair witch
The Blair Witch Project Cast

However, Artisan Entertainment was an independent studio before its purchase, meaning the actors were not part of SAG-AFTRA. As a result, the cast are not entitled to the same residuals from the project as actors in other major films. The cast doesn’t feel that the studio should be able to continue to profit off of their hard work and likenesses without fair compensation.

Their most recent request asks for “meaningful consultation on any future ‘Blair Witch’ reboot, sequel, prequel, toy, game, ride, escape room, etc., in which one could reasonably assume that Heather, Michael & Josh’s names and/or likenesses will be associated for promotional purposes in the public sphere.”

The blair witch project

At this time, Lionsgate has not offered any comment about this issue.

The full statement made by the cast can be found below.

OUR ASKS OF LIONSGATE (From Heather, Michael & Josh, stars of “The Blair Witch Project”):

1. Retroactive + future residual payments to Heather, Michael and Josh for acting services rendered in the original BWP, equivalent to the sum that would’ve been allotted through SAG-AFTRA, had we had proper union or legal representation when the film was made.

2. Meaningful consultation on any future Blair Witch reboot, sequel, prequel, toy, game, ride, escape room, etc…, in which one could reasonably assume that Heather, Michael & Josh’s names and/or likenesses will be associated for promotional purposes in the public sphere.

Note: Our film has now been rebooted twice, both times were a disappointment from a fan/box office/critical perspective. Neither of these films were made with significant creative input from the original team. As the insiders who created the Blair Witch and have been listening to what fans love & want for 25 years, we’re your single greatest, yet thus-far un-utilized secret-weapon!

3. “The Blair Witch Grant”: A 60k grant (the budget of our original movie), paid out yearly by Lionsgate, to an unknown/aspiring genre filmmaker to assist in making theirfirst feature film. This is a GRANT, not a development fund, hence Lionsgate will not own any of the underlying rights to the project.

A PUBLIC STATEMENT FROM THE DIRECTORS & PRODUCERS OF “THE BLAIR WITCH PROJECT”:

As we near the 25th anniversary of The Blair Witch Project, our pride in the storyworld we created and the film we produced is reaffirmed by the recent announcement of a reboot by horror icons Jason Blum and James Wan.

While we, the original filmmakers, respect Lionsgate’s right to monetize the intellectual property as it sees fit, we must highlight the significant contributions of the original cast — Heather Donahue, Joshua Leonard, and Mike Williams. As the literal faces of what has become a franchise, their likenesses, voices, and real names are inseparably tied to The Blair Witch Project. Their unique contributions not only defined the film’s authenticity but continue to resonate with audiences around the world.

We celebrate our film’s legacy, and equally, we believe the actors deserve to be celebrated for their enduring association with the franchise.

Sincerely, Eduardo Sanchez, Dan Myrick, Gregg Hale, Robin Cowie, and Michael Monello

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