Upon finishing watching Mandy for the first time I was absolutely awe-struck, I couldn’t believe that I’d witnessed a film so artistic and grand that it almost drew me to tears at the end, not out of sadness, but pure amazement.

Mandy is an incredible picture from various standpoints, firstly from an artistic view the film is gorgeous, some scenes almost playing out like a moving painting with splashes of colour merging together to create an outstanding image, screenshots from this film are so full of personality and vibrancy that its hard to deny how incredible a spectacle this film is.

Secondly from an auditory perspective, the score written by the late Jóhann Jóhannsson with assistance from Stephen O’Malley of Sunn O))) fame on guitar creates a compelling and haunting atmosphere throughout the film, the darker section of the film are filled with deep, bass heavy synths accompanied by O’Malley’s signature guitar tone, a heavy droning noise-like dirge which complements the accompanying synth and visual elements perfectly. Whereas in the lighter sections of the film primarily in the first third of the film intricate 80’s style synth passages weave their way through the blue tinted scenery creating a compelling and gorgeous atmosphere.

Before going into Mandy I knew very little of what i’d be experiencing other than it’s premise of Nicolas Cage’s character Red’s revenge story, and I would argue going into this film with as little knowledge as possible is probably for the best as it allows the twists and turns of the plot to really grab you. I was shocked, disgusted and astounded respectively at each key turning point in the film, and with the addition of the stylised presentation of the film that only improved my experience. I can only recommend this film, unless you have a predisposition to dislike gory violence or drug use then maybe steer clear, but other than that give this film a try and I’m very excited to see what Panos Cosmatos brings us next

• Sam Cogdon (First-Year Film Studies)