Mandy

such a beautifully crafted masterpiece! the first time i watched this, admittedly, i was really fucking high. it was a great first-watch experience, don’t get me wrong, but it’s a lot easier to appreciate the beauty of this film when you’re sober. amazing use of colour, lighting, and visuals; it transports you completely into the surrealism of the film in a way that feels like dreamlike haze of brutality and bloodlust. it reminds me so much of those nightmares where there’s all sorts of bad things happen around you, but for some reason you can’t move or do anything to prevent it. i’m such a sucker for religious imagery in horror, especially death metal horror since i find the contrast to be endearing, but it’s never really frightened me quite like it does in this. the scenes leading up to the burning of mandy’s body never fail to give me chills, and the stillness of the aftermath is so brilliant. it’s very reminiscent of the way i felt after seeing that scene in hereditary for the first time. i need everyone who still talks shit about nicholas cage to watch this because i genuinely believe that this is one of, if not his best performance yet. he’s at his peak whenever he’s playing disgruntled, revenge-seeking old men covered in blood that go through traumatic, life-changing events and i’m happy to see him taking more and more roles like this in recent years. never fuck with the cage, y’all!!! 10/10