Nicolas Cage seems to carving out a niche for himself in forgettable VOD movies these days, but occasionally, moments of that old brilliant insanity shine through. Panos Cosmatos' upcoming MANDY certainly looks as though it will deliver on that front, and the astounding trailer for the action/horror flick pretty much blew me away. There's so much to process. Cults. Demons. A f**king chainsaw fight?! You can stop, you've won me over. MANDY takes place in the primal wilderness near the Shadow Mountains in 1983, where Red Miller (Cage) has fallen for the beguiling Mandy Bloom (Andrea Riseborough). However, their life comes crashing down when a vile band of ravaging idolaters and supernatural creatures penetrate his idyllic paradise with vicious fury. A broken man, Red now lives for one thing only—to hunt down these maniacal villains and exact swift vengeance. If that sounds amazing, it's because it is. Now go watch the trailer again.
Our own Chris Bumbray caught MANDY at Sundance earlier this year and was full of praise for the "utterly unique genre entry" in his review. "Given how uncompromisingly strange it is, Cosmatos’s film won’t be to all tastes, and a wide run seems unlikely as there’s nothing even remotely mainstream about it," Bumbray said. "That said, one hopes a cool company will snag it and give it a solid theatrical arthouse run, as it’s one that’s absolutely meant to be seen in that environment. This isn’t one for a small-scale VOD run. It’s a cult classic just waiting to happen, and, along with MOM & DAD, a really strong piece of work by Cage, who – for lack of a better word – fiercely commits to his part."
MANDY will be released in limited theaters, VOD, and Digital HD on September 14, 2018.