WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!
Mandy is by no means an explicitly ‘Lovecaftian’ movie, but it is one in which - at least in this viewer’s eyes - both a quiet cosmicism and an implication of strange worlds and weird realms impinging upon our own are evident (in addition to which, weird fantasy literature - of a sort - is explicitly referenced in the film): in an early scene, an intimate conversation concerning the main characters’ favourite planets leads to a disquisition on how the ‘eye’ of Jupiter could swallow the world; after which the camera lingers on the vast cosmic vista of the Milky Way hanging above the cabin which forms Mandy and Red’s (played by Andrea Riseborough and Nicolas Cage respectively) secluded habitation; in another scene a strange, nebulous mist seems to swirl out of those very same cosmic depths; later in the film, Red is (I think) described as a ‘Jovian warrior’ who is ‘filled with cosmic darkness’. That said, Mandy’s cosmcism is of a subdued and melancholic kind - the sense that Red and Mandy are damaged souls who have found in one another a quiet respite from the meaningless maelstrom of life.
On an unrelated point, reviews of the film indicate that, in its final act, Cage subjects the audience to the full-on histrionics for which he has, in recent years, becime infamous; in Cage’s defence, I would contest this view: except for one scene, Cage throughout remains controlled and subdued, portraying in the latter half of the movie grim determination rather than typically Cage-ian out-and-out melodramatic derangement: think Stallone in First Blood rather than Cage in Wild at Heart or Mom and Dad; in this respect, Cage’s performance is not only outstanding, but extremely well-attuned to the overall mood and themes of Mandy.
This is also touted as a movie with supernatural elements - particularly in regard to a seemingly demonic biker gang (whose aesthetic is probably best described as a kind of grimdustrial hellraiser) - which I also think is questionable (this is, after all, a movie about an out-there hippy drug cult). Whilst the ‘demonic’ biker gang appear to be summoned by a mystic horn, there is an unresolved ambiguity in Mandy as to whether genuine supernatural elements are actually involved - whilst one of the bikers continues to fight-on after being shot through the throat with an arrow, there is a strong implication that the antagonist’s seemingly-supernatual abilities are, in fact, artificially- rather than supernaturally-produced; indeed, many of the film’s visionary and supernatural elements (including an instance of telepathic communication) seem to occur when the percipients are in the throes of drug-induced hallucingenic states.
Overall, Mandy is shot-through with a bizarrerie and weirdness which will appeal to readers of contemporary weird fiction (I’m not sure why, but the film reminds me of Nathan Carson’s Starr Creek) - a strangeness enhanced through the effective cinematographic application of an Argento-esque colour palette. A very strong recommend - and a film which may warrant inclusion in my top five favourite modern horror films.
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