Mandy
RLJE Films | Release Date: September 14, 2018 CRITIC SCORE DISTRIBUTION
82
METASCORE
Universal acclaim based on 30 Critic Reviews
Positive:
27
Mixed:
3
Negative:
0
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Critic Reviews

Critic scorePublicationBy date
100
CineVueTom DugginsOct 11, 2018
Mandy is not just hideous, hilarious and thrilling – although, it’s all of those and then some – it’s also a meditation on personal grief which loses no poignancy for all its blood-soaked insanity and eye-melting psychedelia. Read full review
100
Austin ChronicleMarc SavlovSep 13, 2018
Mandy, though, is flat-out orders of magnitude a more emotionally adept and shockingly powerful film in virtually every department, from the dazzlingly insane cinematography and lysergically–inclined production design to what I can only believe is Nicolas Cage’s single best performance to date. Read full review
100
Total FilmJamie GrahamSep 11, 2018
“YOU RIPPED MY FAVOURITE SHIRT!” Cage loses it in a bloody, druggy, superbly crafted revenge thriller. Astonishing. Read full review
100
The TelegraphRobbie CollinMay 13, 2018
Mandy exists in its own supremely unnerving horror dimension. Read full review
100
The Hollywood ReporterJohn DeFore
Cosmatos' ability to put us in Red's head — overwhelmed at first with pain and fury, then saturated by the strange drugs he for some reason feels compelled to try — make this much more than the usual exercise in vicarious bloodshed. Read full review
91
Paste MagazineDom SinacolaSep 13, 2018
As was the case in Cosmatos’s first film, the comparatively sedate Beyond the Black Rainbow, each frame, every shot of Mandy reeks of shocking beauty, stylized at times to within an inch of its intelligibility, but endlessly pregnant with creativity and control, euphoria and pain, clarity and honesty and the ineffable sense that Cosmatos knows exactly how and what he wants to subconsciously imprint into the viewer. Read full review
91
Entertainment WeeklyChris NashawatySep 12, 2018
It’s a fully immersive experience that begs to be anchored by someone who’s lit from within by blinding neon, but who also, amidst all of the nutty squalls of genre scuzz can still wear his broken heart on his sleeve. And, these days, that list is a short one. In fact, there’s really only one name on it. Thankfully, Cosmatos found him. Read full review
91
The PlaylistRuss Fischer
Through Cage, the film’s straightforward revenge plot becomes a King Crimson album played at half speed and twice normal volume; a bizarre and bloody outing with a strong heart beneath the surface. Read full review
90
The New York TimesGlenn KennySep 17, 2018
The movie’s imagery is consistently unearthly; its pacing has a magisterial weight. Call it pulp Tarkovsky, maybe. Read full review
88
The Globe and Mail (Toronto)Barry HertzSep 13, 2018
Mandy is, if it’s not clear yet, not for everyone. But for those who think nothing of staying up past midnight to devour the strange and fantastic, it hits the sweetest of spots. Read full review
83
ConsequenceDominick Suzanne-MayerSep 14, 2018
Mandy is destined to live forever as a cult favorite, but what’s going to set it apart from so many others is the way in which Cosmatos sustains the emotional stakes of Red’s quest through the entire film. Read full review
83
The Film StageJordan Raup
Most surprising of all, Mandy isn’t solely about the carnage-heavy path for revenge. Cosmatos knows that the impact will be much greater felt if there’s an emotional backbone. Thus, one can feel the soul-churning passion behind every popping eye and crushed skull. Read full review
83
IndieWireEric Kohn
[A] hypnotic midnight movie, which veers from astonishing, expressionistic exchanges to gory mayhem without an iota of compromise. Read full review
80
The GuardianPeter BradshawOct 10, 2018
It’s an uncompromising midnight movie. Read full review
80
EmpireAndrew LowryOct 8, 2018
You already know if you’ll enjoy a film where LSD-crazed leather daddies are summoned via something called the Horn Of Abraxas. A no-holds-barred ride into madness destined for a thousand midnight screenings. Read full review
80
Los Angeles TimesNoel MurraySep 13, 2018
Loving Mandy means appreciating what’s special about it from start to finish: from the psychedelic opening to the speed-metal finale. This film is a fusion of kitsch and pulp, underscored with a genuine spiritual yearning. It shouldn’t even be shown in theaters; it should be projected onto the side of an old hippie’s van. Read full review
80
Arizona RepublicSamantha IncorvaiaSep 11, 2018
From its beginning, Mandy is an unsettling, acquired taste.... It's not afraid to let the camera linger on gore or draw out dialogue in creepy tones with ice-cold stares. And that's where this movie wins. Read full review
80
The GuardianJordan HoffmanMay 14, 2018
Either you are one of the devoted or you’re not. You won’t know what camp you’re in until you see it. Read full review
80
Screen DailyTim GriersonMay 12, 2018
A sensuous swath of striking imagery and otherworldly atmosphere, Mandy is a hypnotic, bloody pleasure. Read full review
80
VarietyDennis Harvey
Mandy has so many enjoyably whacked-out elements, it comes as an actual surprise that Barry Manilow’s titular 1974 No. 1 hit is not among them. Read full review
80
Village VoiceBilge Ebiri
The film’s two sides — the soft, textured reverie of its first half, and the surreal, angular savagery of its second — exist in perpetual balance; one would die without the other. Read full review
77
TheWrapWilliam BibbianiSep 13, 2018
It’s a deliberately paced, ultraviolent, outlandishly stylish delivery system for Nicolas Cage’s wild-eyed acting style, and a thoughtful meditation about why Death Metal totally rules. Read full review
75
RogerEbert.comBrian TallericoSep 14, 2018
It’s a really difficult film to capture tonally and even narratively in a review, largely because it is such a stylish, visceral experience that it demands you give yourself over to it actively instead of passively analyzing it. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubIgnatiy VishnevetskySep 11, 2018
The look of the film is a hoot: double lens flares over wood paneling, psychedelic lighting, crude animated sequences, slow-mo and telephoto shots, and enough vintage MTV fog machines to kill a hair metal band. Read full review
75
Slant MagazineChuck BowenSep 10, 2018
Panos Cosmatos's film is a profoundly violent and weirdly moving poem of male alienation. Read full review
75
The A.V. ClubA.A. Dowd
It’s a fetish object, a juvenile art-installation stunt. It panders wildly, but also skillfully and effectively, to its demographic—and you probably know if you belong to it. Read full review
70
Rolling StoneDavid FearSep 5, 2018
It’s the sort of movie that likes its volume dial to be permanently stuck at 11, its references to be hidden in plain sight and/or deafeningly trumpeted and its freak flag flying very, very high. Read full review
60
The Observer (UK)Simran HansOct 18, 2018
There are many things to enjoy here, not least the force of Cage’s performance as incensed lumberjack Red (and, it must be said, his scream). Read full review
60
Time OutJoshua RothkopfSep 14, 2018
Cosmatos needs you to be charitable toward his performances. Or, barring that, he needs you to be stoned. Many will oblige: Mandy is an instant midnight mood, graced by a thickly menacing synth score by composer Jóhann Jóhannsson (Sicario), whose recent death from a drug overdose robs us of not only a singular talent but also an obvious superfan of Vangelis. Read full review
60
CineVueJohn BleasdaleMay 15, 2018
Cosmatos’ Mandy matches Cage grimace for grimace and achieves, at times, a transcendent midnight madness. Read full review
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