Marvelous Mandy

Really enjoyed the pace of this film, and watching Marvelous Mandy, as in the character played by Paula Solinger, as she becomes unraveled. The movie surprised me with how well it established a creepy undertone, and built tension. The thrills come towards the end, in a fun and satisfying climax, so the payoff for horror fans is there. Yet its more rewarding because of the journey the director takes you on on to get there. For me it felt like I was watching an early Brian DePalma film. It is interested in telling a story, and eliciting real emotion, and not just cheap thrills. You can tell Chase Dudley is a filmmaker that will only get better.

Let's start by saying this review won't have spoilers in it , as I always believe you cannot be subjective if you don't view a film in its entirety. For me this film was a clever intertwining of unfortunate dullard single dad Harvey's life with that of false and psychotic 'Mandy' Simpkins , a children's author. It is the well placed casting of Harvey, played by Johnathan Stottman , that engages the viewer most. Stottman conveys a convincing performance as the adorable and bumblingly perfectly endearing single father, who is coping admirably as he tries to raise his daughter Clementine (played exceptionally well by Kenna Hardin). We also meet 'Mandy' , played by Paula Marcenaro Solinger, the seemingly sweet author of the Marvelous Mandy children's books. Mandy appears a beautiful and happy go lucky character but as the film progresses we delve deeper in her fractured psyche and learn the truth of who really is MANDY. Solinger delivers , throughout the film, the complex blend of crazy and complex along with the sweet with the sour. Director Chase Dudley and Writer Brentt Slabchuck work well together to tell this tale of love gone wrong. Though Slabchuck's writing we meet each character and feel more in tune with who they each are as the story evolves. Through Dudley's direction the characters come alive and draw us into this dangerous story of love gone wrong. As the story evolves we see some minor flaws with the production - purely a clear indication of financial limitations- but the story shines through and I myself was desperate to see how Harvey would uncover the truth and end Mandy's evil reign of succubus proportions. This is a solid film and ,with minor adjustments, could become a popular for Harvey's endearing quality alone (how he was written, directed and acted was perfect for the role).

Watching horror films isn't my thing, but I enjoy thrillers, and Marvelous Mandy was definitely that and much more. Watching Mandy's (Paula Solinger) life spiral downward as she tries to put together a perfect life was intriguing. The actress portraying her did a superb job. The rest of the cast was great, and quite believable. Hapless Harvey Fowler (Jonathan Stottmann) is hopeless, but he loves his daughter, Clementine (Kenna Hardin) and just wants to make her happy. I would keep an eye on Miss Hardin. She will go a long way in this business. The only issue was the sound. There were some technical difficulties, but easily overlooked due to the exceptional story line. If you haven't seen it yet, it is definitely worth your time. I am looking forward to seeing more movies from this director.

I was pleasantly surprised after viewing this movie. The acting of the principles was superb; the story was very interesting and real-to-life and given the budget, it was amazing it even got made. Paula Mercenaro Solinger was appropriately wacky but also showed her subtle side. Johnathan Stottmann was perfect for the role and apparently is fairly new to acting. He is a real find. Most of the day players did a decent job, which has to be credited partly to the Director for getting the performances out of in-experienced actors. There were the usual problems of a no-budget movie; sound problems, framing problems, but for a first time effort at a feature length movie, it was quite outstanding. Looking forward to future projects by this director.

I really enjoyed this movie as was unexpected how creepy and disturbing this little lady was. The graphics and blood scenes were very realistic as well and I caught my head turning on these points. Certainly the strong points of the movie as I'm not one for blood, guts and gore, but they did a fantastic job at creating this realistically, wow. I was really horrified at the end, not wanting to write a spoiler, I was screaming "Oh no, no, no poor baby no". I found myself wanting more at the end as to me it was left to the imagination what would happen next. A sequel would be a great idea. I feel a couple of the actors could use some polishing, but like with any craft, with new and up and coming artists, it is great to see them evolve. Can't wait for more from Cut 2 the Chase.