Pandemonium

I have to give the film credit for having a unique base setting to an anthology-based horror film.

There isn't much of a review here, since the film is flat and immensely mundane. It isn't terrible.

The CGI is kind of cheesy in the beginning, but nevertheless the demons and the films description of Hell are very "awesome" (for lack of better terminology).

Some of the stories are original, but are lacking in story depth, and they come off as mundane. I would categorize this film to be put into the supernatural horror genre, but that is just my opinion.

The stories themselves are not "scary" or "creepy/dark" as some may say but are intriguing in their own sort of way. On the contrary, the stories are quite boring.

I believe that the best aesthetic portions of the film are in the beginning and in "Hell." Otherwise, the film is rather mediocre.

I think it would be worth a one-time watch.

5/10.

I'm not usually one to write reviews, but I felt like I had to for this movie. The script was really well done from start to finish. I wouldn't call it a horror movie because it had so many realistic elements; it felt more like a spiritual journey we hope never to experience ourselves. The music and sounds added a scary element to the whole movie. I had to rewatch a few scenes to get a clear picture of what was happening, and I didn't regret doing so. Even though the movie is French, it captivated me from beginning to end. It's definitely worth watching, and I'll leave it at that so you can be surprised too.

No pun intended - the movie has quite the bleak outlook on (most) things. And it is quite tough on a lot of things too. You may not agree with what the movie is trying to tell you. Especially because it sort of feels like it starts off slow and fun in a way ... but really does take quite a few twists and turns. It does not care of what you expect and if you are sensitive ... things do happen (as they tend to do in life, no fair or whatever).

Our main character goes on a journey ... and it seems to end one way or another ... but does it really. And does it in the end? The movie does not take the easy way out, that is for sure. It did remind me a bit of the Silent Hill movie (20 years old or something now?) ... not the story, but the mood this creates. And the visuals to a degree .. you have to suspend your disbelief ... and not be too sensitive as I already stated above ... then you might find quite a few interesting things here ... not judging morally one way or the other ... or at least you should try not to.

Needless to say that I had never actually heard about this 2023 horror movie titled "Pandemonium" prior to stumbling upon it by random chance here in 2024. In fact, I didn't even know that it was a French movie that I sat down to watch when I opted to sit down and watch it, on account of it being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen.

So in a sense, writer and director Quarxx had every opportunity to entertain and impress me here. However, that was a wasted opportunity, because "Pandemonium" was a dumpster fire of a movie. I didn't know that I was in for a horror anthology here, and had I known that this was an anthology I wouldn't have wasted 95 minutes on watching it.

The movie was off to a great start with the scene with Nathan (played by Hugo Dillon) and Daniel (played by Arben Bajraktaraj) with the crash and the choices of Heaven or Hell. But then the movie quickly went downhill. But give it a watch, perhaps you might find the segments and stories interesting. I just happened to not find the subsequent segments interesting, after the first one.

It should be said, though, that the acting performances in "Pandemonium" were good. I wasn't familiar with a single actor or actress on the cast list, however. But that is actually something I do appreciate and enjoy when I sit down to watch a movie. Just a shame that this was a dumpster fire of a horror anthology.

Visually then "Pandemonium" was okay. There were a minimal of special effects throughout the 95 minutes that the movie ran for. But the effects were adequate for what they were and served the movie well enough.

"Pandemonium" didn't impress me, much less actually entertained me. And it is not a movie that will ever grace my screen a second time.

My rating of writer and director Quarxx's 2023 horror movie "Pandemonium" lands on a very generous three out of ten stars.

It is unclear how the plot can be end-to-end if the artistic lines are not connected, and it is unclear how this can be called an almanac if the episodes are within the same story - this was a small digression, and now about the film.

Indeed, the beginning is interesting, intriguing, shrouded in mysticism and religious meanings, and I really liked this beginning, probably all fans of mystical stories will agree with me. The first episode is not only intriguing, but also surprising with unexpected twists. In general, my impressions of the first episode are only positive, the only thing that was a little lacking was big emotional plans in moments of denial. The first episode ends with a mysterious cliffhanger of the world of the dead and the director continues the narrative with additional illogical storylines. These two additional stories contain elements of absurd arthouse, in which what is happening, to a greater and then to a lesser extent, resembles the somnambulized fantasy of childhood traumas. The second episode is aimed at a teenage audience who is struggling to entertain the quirks of a crazy girl and her dissociative disorder. There is an ugly image in this episode, which the director associates with destruction and the concept of "thanatos". But there is a provocative and disgusting reason - the bathroom scene - that highlights the director's sexual deviations.

The third episode no longer entertains, but strains with absurd action, suicidal themes and problems of adolescent cruelty - involvement in these problems deserves special praise, but how the director mixes and presents these meanings is no longer so unambiguous and not so clear, it's all about the motives of the mother. The mother's character is depersonalized and disoriented, the reasons for this behavior are not explained and are not connected with the main theme of afterlife justice. The only connection of the third episode is the magical transformation of the door into a wall. This plot solution hints at the unreality of what is happening, but I don't see any point in it except for the usual manipulation or, if you like, mystical speculation for the sake of a magical flair. Doors in this film are generally a specific fetish of the director, I do not remember a film with so many doors. Through the doors, the director submits the plot of all the episodes, they flash in almost every scene, but do not create a clear picture and are not connected with the finale, and the finale is an important part not only of the film, but also of any dramatic work.

What the viewer eventually gets: the first unfinished fascinating episode, and two subsequent, completely unrelated plots, which are more like separate short films - and it takes a significant effort of will to watch them. The finale, well, is quite okay, if you save the first episode and the ending, and cut the other two, then nothing will change except for a shortened timekeeping, which does not go beyond the short film. In fact, the film consists of three short films, in which there are meaningless characters: a postman and a neighbor, and do not forget two dozen doors, which also embody inanimate characters.

In cinema, everything should be meaningful and necessary, but this collection has its own unique atmosphere, unknown to the viewer, but so close to the director-screenwriter.

Two things are very successful in the film: the initial intrigue of the first episode, and the voicing of socially acute themes of the third episode with a dramatic and terrible scene of teenage cruelty.