The Nicolas Cage Horror Masterpiece On Hulu Is Unlike Anything Else

Aside from the fact that it stars genre icon Nicolas Cage, what do you need to know about Mandy? The plot features a couple (an artist turned cashier and a soldier turned logger) trying to lead a quiet life, but their domestic bliss is shattered by the arrival of a dangerous cult.

The cult leader orders Mandy killed, setting off a chain of events that unleashes a lifetime or repressed rage inside her boyfriend. That rage makes him the ultimate killing machine, but his quest for revenge involves clashing with otherworldly forces, including a biker gang of demons constantly stalking the land for new victims.

Nicolas Cage is the main star of Mandy, and he is surrounded with an amazing fellow cast. Mandy herself is played by Andrea Riseborough, a talented actor later nominated for an Academy Award for her performance in the 2022 film To Leslie.

The cult leader is played by Law & Order veteran Linus Roache, and the cast is rounded out by genre icon and Predator costar Bill Duke.

It was a pretty intimate horror movie, but the presence of Nicolas Cage helped transform Mandy into a modest commercial success. The movie went on to earn $6 million against a budget of $1.7 million. That gross is proof that the movie is still more of a cult classic than a horror staple, though one thing is for sure: those who see this movie quickly fall in love with it.

For example, critics who saw this psychedelic Nicolas Cage horror film were generally very impressed with Mandy. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a critical score of 90 percent.

The critical consensus notes that “ Mandy‘s gonzo violence is fueled by a gripping performance by Nicolas Cage–and anchored with palpable emotion conveyed between his volcanic outbursts.”

The note about Nicolas Cage’s performance is quite true and is what takes Mandy into “horror masterpiece” territory. I will admit that I usually find Cage very unintentionally funny, and I could barely wrap my mind around the idea of the acting veteran turning in such an emotionally nuanced performance.

But in Mandy, he effortlessly shifts between being a supportive boyfriend to being a relentless hunter, and the whole thing serves as a showcase for his diverse acting talents.

Even if you’re not a Nicolas Cage fan, you may find yourself enjoying Mandy for the way it sometimes dips (and sometimes dunks) itself in other genres, including fantasy.

The period setting of 1987 already gives the film a kind of creeping unreality, and that feeling only grows with each new scene. Before too long, Cage is forging a sword to go attack demons, and you’ll be amazed at just how much everything feels like Lord of the Rings on LSD before it’s over.

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Will you find Nicolas Cage as brilliant as I did in Mandy, or is this a movie you’d rather feed to the Cheddar Golbin? You won’t know until you stream it on Hulu today. In my always humble opinion, the only thing that will disappoint you is that you may never see another horror movie quite so brilliant ever again.