Line #40 YMMV/Mandy2018


1	* AntiClimaxBoss: [[spoiler: Red takes down the Children of the New Dawn pretty easily. [[TheBrute 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]].
2	* SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic:
3	** Music/JohannJohannsson's score (one of the last he composed before his death) has been roundly praised and does an excellent job elevating the movie's visuals into something far greater.
4	** The film also opens with Music/KingCrimson's "Starless," which is another great example of this.
5	** Despite the lyrics being [[StylisticSuck intentionally awful]], Jeremiah Sand's song "The Amulet of the Weeping Maze" is actually a [[NarmCharm pretty nice song.]]
6	* 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 $1,000 by ''Film/TooManyCooks'' creator Caspar Kelly)[[/note]] involving [[spoiler:a mascot called the Cheddar Goblin literally vomiting streams of pasta all over two kids]].
7	* CatharsisFactor: It's hard to think of a more satisfying end than [[spoiler: Red literally squeezing Jeremiah's skull into mush as the slimy little bastard pleads for his life]].
8	* CompleteMonster: [[BigBad Jeremiah Sand]] is the vicious, cowardly leader of the Children of the New Dawn cult. Having [[SelfMadeOrphan murdered his parents]] and moved to Los Angeles to indulge in music and drugs, Jeremiah would form countless cults centered around himself to satisfy his [[{{Narcissist}} narcissism]]. Working with the demonic Black Skulls biker gang, he makes them his personal attack dogs and allows them to murder and rape whomever they please, holding their chemist hostage to help continue their murder sprees. Taking an obsessive liking to Mandy Bloom, he has the Black Skulls kidnap her and her husband Red Miller, sacrificing one of his men to them as thanks. With the couple in hand, he has Mandy drugged and [[AttemptedRape tries to rape her]], while he has Red hung up with barb wire and stabbed in the side, and is ForcedToWatch [[spoiler:Mandy burned alive after she]] tarnishes Jeremiah's ego by laughing at him.
9	* CriticalDissonance: A mild case; the film has garnered critical acclaim but a more mixed reaction among audiences, likely due to its use of SurrealHorror and [[SlowPacedBeginning a slow first half]].
10	* 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.
11	* EvilIsCool: Very much averted with [[HateSink Jeremiah Sand and the Children of the New Dawn]], overall. But the Black Skulls? How can you get much cooler than ''demonic bikers?''
12	* SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct: Critics have praised this film for allowing Creator/NicolasCage to give a very powerful performance and show off his range.
13	* SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments:
14	** Red and Mandy lying in bed together, having an {{adorkable}} chat about anything that comes immediately to their minds. The two have such great chemistry together, it's almost enough to make you sad on a rewatch knowing what's to come. It's also set to [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=72ye1IMywrQ this lovely piece by Johann Johannsson]].
15	** There's something to be said about Red continuing to be a relatively good person despite being a raging BloodKnight killing everybody who was responsible for Mandy's kidnapping and [[spoiler:subsequent death]], even after he takes a dose of [[spoiler:[[PsychoSerum the Chemist's LSD]]]]. He convinces the Chemist to release the tiger he'd been using to test his drugs, and later allows Sister Lucy to leave unscathed after he [[spoiler:kills Brother Swann in front of her]]. He may no longer be physically or spiritually human, but he has not lost his humanity.
16	** While also a TearJerker and NightmareFuel to some extent, after finishing off the [[spoiler:Children of the New Dawn]], Red gets in his car and sees a vision of [[spoiler:when he first met Mandy, wearing the "44" t-shirt and smiling at him. He smiles back, and while it looks unnerving, it's clear that he's at least found some measure of peace.]]
17	* HilariousInHindsight:
18	** The last time Linus Roache and Richard Brake were [[Film/BatmanBegins in a movie together]], ''Brake'' was the bad guy. Here it's the opposite.
19	** Nic Cage in a movie [[Film/RaisingArizona featuring]] [[Film/GhostRider2007 demonic]] [[Film/GhostRiderSpiritOfVengeance motorcyclists]]?
20	* HoYay: Jeremiah and Brother Swann seem close. ''Real'' close. It doesn't help that Jeremiah later offers to suck Red's dick.
21	* JustHereForGodzilla: A lot of people watched this movie just to see ''NICOLAS CAGE IN A CHAINSAW FIGHT''.
22	* NarmCharm: Considering it stars Nic Cage, the interplay between unintentional hilarity and genuine effectiveness is almost inevitable.
23	** The image of a middle-aged man in a cartoon tiger T-shirt, tighty whities and tube socks sloppily drinking while screaming his head off in a bathroom sounds absolutely ridiculous on paper, and considering said man is Cage, it sounds like just another one of the hilarious FreakOut moments he's known for. But considering he's just been [[spoiler:tortured and forced to watch his wife burn alive by the cult]], all of his emotions are justified, and the scene is genuinely devastating.
24	** Red referring to Jeremiah's cult and the Black Skulls as "weirdo, hippie types" and "gnarly psychos... crazy evil", respectively. Then again, coming from Cage, it actually works.
25	** The second half of the film, when all bets are off, is extremely over the top. However, the build-up, along with the CatharsisFactor and quality, make it extremely entertaining.
26	** [[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, as it's Cage, a weird mix of both.
27	** Jeremiah Sand's song "The Amulet of the Weeping Maze" is hilariously awful but also pretty nice at the same time.
28	* OneSceneWonder:
29	** Richard Brake as The Chemist.
30	** Also the legendary Bill Duke as Red's friend Caruthers, getting some of the best lines in the movie.
31	--->'''Caruthers:''' Whatcha hunting?\
32	'''Red:''' Jesus freaks.\
33	'''Caruthers:''' Didn't know they were in season.
34	* PosthumousCredit: Johann Johannsson, the composer of the film, died shortly after the film's premiere in Sundance Festival. The film is dedicated to him.
35	* SignatureScene:
36	** 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. It's even featured on at least one of the movie's posters.
37	** Red's screaming, roaring, [[InelegantBlubbering sobbing]] breakdown in the bathroom [[spoiler:after Mandy dies]], the emotional high point of the movie and a true showcase for Nic Cage's [[SugarWiki/HeReallyCanAct true acting skills.]]
38	* SlowPacedBeginning: The first hour of the movie mostly focuses on Mandy's romance with Red and Jeremiah Sand's plot to kidnap her.
39	* SpiritualAdaptation:
40	** With surreal religious imagery, demonic mooks, over-the-top violence, and highly saturated colors, this might be the closest Western live-action adaptation of Creator/GoNagai's ''{{Manga/Devilman}}'' series. Perhaps better than the actual live-action ''Devilman'' adaptation.
41	** The movie is also like a more stylish version of ''Film/ISawTheDevil'', albeit far more formalist and more surreal.
42	* {{Squick}}:
43	** Jeremiah's description of the initiation ceremony that he put his followers in Live To Tell through. It requires the initiate to bite the head off a live grasshopper, then draw their own blood, which the rest of the members would drink.
44	** [[spoiler: When Red crushes Sand's head, we see the whole thing too. His {{eye\|Scream}} even pops out!]]
45	* UglyCute: [[BigLippedAlligatorMoment The Cheddar Goblin.]]
46	* 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.
47	* TheWoobie:
48	** 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. Red spares her and lets her go free, seemingly understanding that she's as much a victim of the cult as he and Mandy]].
49	** Mandy. Despite the implied abuse that her father put her through, she seems to be a kind-hearted individual, [[spoiler:which makes her abduction and death at the hands of Jeremiah and his cult that much more tragic.]]
50	** Red. Prior to the events of the movie, WordOfGod says he was a violent man who settled down when he met Mandy. [[spoiler:Her death drove him over the edge again.]]

Context YMMV / Mandy2018