History YMMV / Mandy2018

* PosthumousCredit: JohannJohannsson, the composer of the film, died shortly after the film's premiere in Sundance Festival. The film is dedicated to him.

* UglyCute: [[spoiler:[[BigLippedAlligatorMoment The Cheddar Goblin.]]]]

* WhatDoYouMeanItWasntMadeOnDrugs: It’s a Panos Cosmatos film, what did you expect? You just have to look at the trailer to see how surreal this film is.

** Nic Cage in a movie [[Film/RaisingArizona featuring]] [[Film/GhostRider demonic]] [[Film/GhostRiderSpiritOfVengeance motorcyclists]]?

* AntiClimaxBoss: [[spoiler: Red takes down the Children of the New Dawn pretty easily. Brother Klopek is the only one who puts up a fight.]] Justified in that they are a {{cult}} of drugged-up hippies who had to summon demonic forces [[TheDragon to do the dirty work for them]].

* AntiClimaxBoss: [[spoiler: Red takes down the Children of the New Dawn pretty easily. Brother Klopek is the only one who puts up a fight.]]

* NarmCharm: Considering it stars Nic Cage, the interplay between unintentional hilarity and genuine awesome factor is almost inevitable.

** Lucy, as the sole member of the Children of the New Dawn who isn't thoroughly despicable. She is repeatedly raped by Jeremiah, almost forced to shoot herself in front of Red to prove her devotion, and [[spoiler:sheds tears when she sees Brother Swann brutally killed]].

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan is playing on the radio in Red's car as he drives home, criticising pornography and abortion. Red turns him off in distaste. The film can be seen as a condemnation of Reagan policies that were perceived by some as Puritanical, overly stringent and driving young people into the arms of depraved hippy cults like the Manson Family that were active in the 80s -- essentially real-life Children of the New Dawn. The fact that at one point Red calls one of the villains a "snowflake", a contemporary term used by rightists to describe far-leftists (and by the far-right to describe anyone to the left of them) can also be taken as this. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment And let's just leave it at that]].

* OneSceneWonder: Richard Brake as The Chemist.

* BigLippedAlligatorMoment: Some might argue that the whole film is an unbroken stream of [=BLAMs=] -- but the most deliberately absurd has to be Red, wounded and traumatized, wandering into his house to find the TV left on and being confronted by a bizarre macaroni-and-cheese commercial[[note]](made for $1000 by ''Film/TooManyCooks'' creator Caspar Kelly)[[/note]] involving [[spoiler:a mascot called the Cheddar Goblin literally vomiting streams of pasta all over two kids]].

** With surreal religious imagery, demonic mooks, over-the-top violence, and highly saturated colors, this might be the closest Westerb live-action adaptation of Creator/GoNagai's ''{{Manga/Devilman}}'' series. Perhaps better than the actual live-action ''Devilman'' adaptation.

** With surreal religious imageries, demonic mooks, over-the-top violence, and highly saturated colors, this might be the closest live-action adaptation of Creator/GoNagai's ''{{Manga/Devilman}}'' series.

* NarmCharm: Considering it stars Nic Cage, the interplay between unintentional hilarity and genuine CrazyAwesome factor is almost inevitable.

** [[spoiler:When Red frees himself from his barbed wire binds, the first thing he does is crawl to and cradle Mandy's ashes, still hauntingly in the form of her face. Then, [[DiabolusExMachina as if Mother Nature herself was watching and]] [[MomentKiller decided to ruin the moment]], a gust of wind blows by and disintegrates Mandy's face, by extension [[KickTheDog taking the last of Mandy's physical being right out of Red's hands]]]].

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: UsefulNotes/RonaldReagan is playing on the radio in Red's car as he drives home, criticising pornography and abortion. Red turns him off in distaste. The film can be seen as a condemnation of Reagan policies that were perceived by some as Puritanical, overly stringent and driving young people into the arms of real life Children of the New Dawn, depraved hippy cults like the Manson Family that were active in the eighties. The fact that at one point Red calls one of the villains a "snowflake", a contemporary term used by Rightists to describe far-Leftists (and by the far-Right to describe anyone to the Left of them) can also be taken as this. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment And let's just leave it at that]].

** Red's breakdown in the bathroom. He was forced to watch [[spoiler: his wife disintegrating to ashes]] and had a nightmare of [[spoiler: her flesh getting rotten afterward]]. It may seem like {{Narm}} to some, but Nicolas Cage's [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct performance]] and the eye-catching cinematography really sell the tragedy of the moment.
** A more subtle example: Red saying in a quiet monotone after Sis slashes him: "That was my favourite shirt." It may seem like a case of SkewedPriorities and maybe even {{Narm}}, but [[spoiler:taking into account that it was the shirt he wore when he first met Mandy and also the last shirt Mandy was wearing, it's actually kind of sad.]]

* CatharsisFactor: It's hard to think of a more satisfying end than [[spoiler: Red literally squeezing Jeremiah's skull apart as the slimy little bastard pleads for his life]].

* CultClassic: A [[MushroomSamba trippy]], [[{{Gorn}} hyper-violent]], indie flick starring [[Creator/NicolasCage Nic Cage]] that went relatively under the radar in 2018, it's definitely on its way towards becoming one.

* {{Narm}}: Red referring to Jeremiah's cult and the Black Skulls as "weirdo, hippie types" and "gnarly psychos ... crazy evil", respectively. Then again, coming from Nicolas Cage, [[NarmCharm it actually works]].
* NarmCharm:

** [[https://www.goombastomp.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/10/mandy-nicolas-cage.jpg This image]] of Red following his RoaringRampageOfRevenge is either unintentionally hilarious or downright ''[[NightmareFuel terrifying]]''. Or a weird mix of both since it's Nic Cage.

** Despite being [[StylisticSuck intentionally awful]], Jeremiah Sand's song "The Amulet of the Weeping Maze" is actually a [[NarmCharm pretty nice song.]]

** A more subtle example: Red saying in a quiet monotone after Sis slashes him: "That was my favorite shirt." It may seem like a case of SkewedPriorities and maybe even {{Narm}}, but [[spoiler:taking into account that it was the shirt he wore when he first met Mandy and also the last shirt Mandy was wearing, it's actually kind of sad.]]

** Unsurprisingly, the [[ChainsawGood chainsaw]] [[RuleOfCool duel]] has been described as an undeniable highlight of the movie and it's hard to find a critic's review that doesn't mention it.

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* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotPolitical: Ronald Reagan is playing on the radio in Red's car as he drives home, criticising pornography and abortion. Red turns him off in distaste. The film can be seen as a condemnation of Reagan policies that were perceived by some as Puritanical, overly stringent and driving young people into the arms of real life Children of the New Dawn, depraved hippy cults like the Manson Family that were active in the eighties. The fact that at one point Red calls one of the villains a "snowflake", a contemporary term used by Rightists to describe far-Leftists (and by the far-Right to describe anyone to the Left of them) can also be taken as this. [[Administrivia/RuleOfCautiousEditingJudgment And let's just leave it at that]].