Pandemonium

There’s not much of a market for short films.  Even the Academy Award nominated shorts, which get some theatrical play, are little more than auditions for directors looking for feature work.  But like a short story collection in the literary world, an anthology film is an entirely different experience, offering viewers a buffet of cinematic flavors…and filmmakers a better hit-to-miss ratio.  Pandemonium (2023) isn’t exactly an anthology by design, but production circumstances wound up fitting the format quite nicely as a fog-shrouded wraparound segment bookends two powerful stand-alone films. 

After waking up to the aftermath of a car crash on a misty mountain road, Nathan discovers he’s stuck in some sort of purgatory…and he’s not alone.  Daniel, also involved in the crash, explains their situation and suggests they’re meant to use the two doors that have mysteriously appeared, one accompanied by a heavenly chorus, the other screams of the damned.  

 

From here, Pandemonium jumps into its first self-contained story concerning Nina, a psychologically unhinged 10-year-old who discovers her parents murdered on the living room floor.  She lays the blame on her pet monster, a deformed giant who lives in the wine cellar.  But Nina’s initial excitement at her new life of freedom begins to crack as reality begins to push its way into her escapist dream world.

 

Next, we meet Julia, a work obsessed single mother who discovers her daughter has committed suicide.  But her guilt pushes her from denial to delirium, covering up the death while her fractured psyche struggles to cope.  And finally, we return to Nathan from the opening chapter, now on a guided tour of hell and forced to confront an eternity of suffering…unless we gets one lucky break.

 

Pandemonium might not present itself as straight-forward genre entertainment in the way of old Amicus horror films of the ‘60s and ‘70s, but it’s those moral complexities that make it so interesting.  Written and directed by monoymous French filmmaker Quarxx, the film grabs your attention from the opening frame, staging a Twilight Zone meets Silent Hill vision of the afterlife that immediately pulls the viewer in.  Each story becomes progressively more nihilistic, with dollops of dark humor along the way to relive the pressure, headed towards a view of the human condition that’s pitch black.  Yet, the film itself is gorgeous to look at and features some of the most stunning make-up designs not produced by Rick Baker you’ve ever seen! 

 

Arrow Video’s limited-edition Blu-ray is a stunner with interviews from Quarxx, FX supervisor Olivier Afonso and footage from the 2023 premiere.  Included but not available for review are a double-sided fold-out poster and illustrated collector’s booklet.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Tormented

Image
The west coast always struggled to create a creepy atmosphere on screen.  All that southern California sunshine just doesn’t lend itself to ghostly apparitions or gothic castles.  But  Tormented  (1960) gives it a good try, staging its opening scene in an abandoned lighthouse where blackmail turns into murder - and one cover up leads to another.  Director Bert I. Gordon, better known for his giant-sized - but low-budget - monster movies, works well at this level, turning in a film that delivers small scares but perhaps his most  professional finished product. Tom Stewart (played by genre regular Richard Carlson) is a fairly successful jazz pianist whose impending marriage to Meg Hubbard (Susan Gordon) will put him in an entirely new tax bracket.  Trouble is his old flame, Vi (Juli Reding), isn’t taking this lying down.  After  allowing  her to fall to her death in the opening scene, Tom is haunted by disembo...
Read more

All Ladies Do It / Frivolous Lola

Image
Every semi-professional review of erotica probably starts off with the same question:  what’s the difference between porn and art?  The internet age has essentially done away with foreplay; sex is merely the act of completion itself, minus the threat of any malware or suspicious browser activity.  But the work of Italian director Tinto Brass, for all its leering upskirt shots of derrieres and pubic hair, still communicates something that websites like Pornhub never will:  the art of seduction.  All Ladies Do It  (1992), a breezy sexual adventure, follows Diana (Claudia Koll) whose marriage is threatened by her fantasies of dalliances with other men, stories her husband believes are nothing more than exciting role play.  But her loose definition of adultery inspires plenty of promiscuous hook-ups, taking advantage of any (ahem)  loophole  that provides a quick thrill.   Flirting with some hardcore sequences (there...
Read more

The Cat and the Canary

Image
My favorite directors have always been showoffs:  Hitchcock, DePalma, Spielberg (when he’s feeling frisky) and gonzo auteurs like Sam Raimi.  There’s just something about their cinematic ambition, constantly reminding the audience that, yes, there actually  is  someone behind the camera calling the shots.  And that directorial discontent shines through even in the early days of the medium, such as Paul Leni’s 1927 adaptation of  The Cat and the Canary .  While the rest of the industry was still learning the basics of visual language, Leni fills his frame with tracking shots, POVs and dramatic lighting that set the standard for every spook show to come!  Gathered for the reading of the last will and testament of eccentric recluse Cyrus West,  the potential heirs meet up in his decrepit mansion to discover who will inherit the estate and family jewels.  Predictably there is some petty jealousy when young Annab...
Read more