COLLECTOR'S CRYPT - PANDEMONIUM (ARROW BLU-RAY)
Experimentation is a funny thing as it can go both well and poorly, even sometimes a bit of both. Innovators in the genre know all too well the dangers of being one of the first. Like Bob Clark and Black Christmas, which should’ve gotten all the flowers for kicking off the slasher craze that instead went to John Carpenter’s Halloween (not undeservedly we might add). Or even Fred Vogel and the August Underground films which gave way to the more marquee films like Hostel and Saw. Timing is the hardest variable to predict when you’re an innovator, and oftentimes the genre thrives when filmmakers get it wrong. Without that poor timing, we wouldn’t have a “cult classics” label. Not all innovation succeeds, even after the fact, and while these misses may not work entirely they are always fascinating pieces of art to observe. Something very fitting for today’s coverage in the crypt of Arrow Video’s Blu-Ray of Pandemonium. Is this innovation cult classic worthy, or merely forgetting experimentation?
WHAT’S IT ABOUT?
Nathan and Daniel are caught in a road accident that kills them both. As they come to grips with their deaths, Nathan confronts his past and the consequences of his actions. Now trapped in the hellish void of Pandemonium, he encounters tortured souls like Jeanne, a disturbed child; Julia, a grief-stricken mother; and Norghul, the guide of the great void. Will he find a way to escape the torment that awaits him for eternity?
HOW IS IT?
“Pandemonium” is a sneaky little bastard of a film. The cover art and synopsis do not allude to the anthology-like structure of the story, and the blending of each vignette makes them meld together in strange harmony. It is a bold and interesting approach to what has become a thriving sub-genre of horror, and for the most part, it works in service of the film and the filmmaker Quarxx. While it takes time to find its footing, once it does “Pandemonium” propels forward through different genres, characters, and stories that are equal parts diabolical and hilarious. It is a contemplative film that asks big questions but doesn’t traffick much in the way of answers. Instead, “Pandemonium” presents a philosophical view of mortality, death, and the afterlife that warrants your attention even if only for a single watch.
The semi-connected nature of the storytelling hides the fact that “Pandemonium” is an anthology film. The opening story involving two characters who died in an unfortunate car accident takes the shape of a wraparound as we watch Nathan and Daniel get hilariously rejected from heaven and forced to go through a literal door to hell. The look of “Pandemonium” is striking, especially the depiction of hell which feels ripped right out of the last minutes of Lucio Fulci’s The Beyond. A sea of ashen, lifeless bodies sprawled across a dusty terrain is also a roadmap of sorts for the kinds of stories we take in, starting with a young girl who is a clinical sociopath with a disabled imaginary friend and then working back into a story about a repentant mother who cannot confront and accept her daughter's suicide. These two stories hit on the wildly eccentric tone that “Pandemonium” holds for the better part of its 92-minute runtime, and the merging of these stories together without visual cues can sometimes make it hard to know what is going on and if you are still on the same story or a different one. This could be viewed as a fault, but it doesn’t feel that way while watching it. It increases one's engagement as you spend the first few minutes of each story swap trying to regain your bearings and coming to grips with the informal closures that just occurred. It doesn’t hurt that the filmmaking is top-notch either, as the cinematography does wonders by squeezing all of the mood out of the limited locations to drive home maximum impact. The clearest example of this is in the midsection of the film where we follow Nina, a sociopathic little girl who has a friend named “Tony the Monster” who happens to be a deformed and disabled individual she keeps in the basement of her home. While everything occurs in the home, the shift from basement to upstairs is so stark you might expect them to be two different places altogether. It is a disorienting experience that delights, but also disappoints.
The lack of a cohesive structure bodes well “in the moment”, but in reflection, it feels like an odd choice that stands at odds with what the director may be intending. To unpack that further, it is very hard to tell just what the filmmaker is trying to say if anything. There are so many ideas and themes on display, from grief, guilt, trauma, and regret, but they are all touched on at a surface level. Take the story of the grieving mother who carries on with the body of her dead daughter after she committed suicide. Even the context provided through flashbacks doesn’t give a full enough picture to justify some of the strange character decisions. It is made clear that the daughter was making cries for help and the mother was ignorant to them, but none of that leads to the logical conclusion that she will just prop her daughter up and treat her like she’s still alive despite the very opposite. It is an example of how “Pandemonium” only scratches the surface of the topics it probes without ever fully committing to meaning or explanation. It's all beautiful to look at, but it doesn’t make a lick of sense, much like the final wraparound story involving Nathan and a demon. While it plays for laughs, it is hard to tone switch from a depressing story involving a bullied teen who took their life to a story about a demon begrudgingly escorting some guy to his punishment of a demon beating him up for 4,000 “short” years. Perhaps the missing piece in “Pandemonium” is hidden in the title itself. “Pandemonium” certainly delivers an experience that could be described as “disordered and confused”, which makes the title all the more fitting even if the final product is somewhat frustrating.
HOW DOES IT LOOK?
“Pandemonium” was produced in 2023 and benefits from being filmed digitally. Dissimilar to older titles Arrow Video release “Pandemonium” doesn’t require much in the way of restoration considering its recency. That said, the visual presentation is solid even if the color palette is quite muted. Heavy grays and washed-out tones fill much of the frame, which come through nicely on the Blu-ray, and the film maintains an aspect ratio of 2.39:1. Images from the disc can be seen below and throughout the review.
HOW DOES IT SOUND?
“Pandemonium” is a French language film and comes with a 5.1 Dolby DTS-HD track alongside an uncompressed stereo track. We opted for the former version for our review and felt the soundscape was dutifully realized even if it doesn’t take full advantage of the rear speakers much. The dialogue and soundtrack are well-balanced with one never overpowering the other, and the intimacy of the scenes and locations do not lend themselves to very active surround sound opportunities. The film also includes English subtitles for those who do not speak French and/or are hard of hearing.
ANYTHING SPECIAL?
A film as strange as this one is better off with a company like Arrow Video at the releasing helm. In no short supply are a series of interviews and exposés that offer a bit more clarity into the themes and thinking of films like “Pandemonium”. The feature we found most intriguing was the 19-minute Different Textures Interview with writer/director Quarxx, which offered a direct line-of-sight into his vision for the film. Interestingly enough, he filmed chronologically because of weather delays which ultimately worked in the film's favor. His decision to not seek outside financing allowed him more freedom to do as he pleased regarding the script and the filmmaking overall. While this did mean ideas and shots needed to be rethought, it also explains why “Pandemonium” feels so all over the place and disjointed. Quarxx speaks of the filmmaking process as very fluid, like something he is always trying to experiment with. Here, he had no intent of making an anthology, it was just how the process panned out. He also speaks highly of the actors in the film, in particular the young girl in the second story, but also the boom operator and composer, Benjamin. It’s an interesting watch even if it doesn’t fully answer all the viewer's questions, it does help clear up the how and why things ended up the way they did. A full list of special features is listed below.
SPECIAL FEATURES:
High Definition (1080p) Blu-ray presentation
Original uncompressed stereo and 5.1 surround French audio
Optional English subtitles
Different Textures, a brand new interview with writer/director Quarxx
Tony The Monster, a brand new interview with writer/director Quarxx and special make-up/FX supervisor Olivier Afonso
Filming A Real Birth, a brand new interview with writer/director Quarxx sharing a behind-the-scenes look at the filming of a birth
Footage from the film's 2023 premiere in Paris
Making of featurette
Trailer
Reversible sleeve featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Dare Creative
Double-sided fold-out poster featuring original and newly commissioned artwork by Dare Creative
Illustrated collector's booklet featuring new writing on the film by Anton Bitel, and a director's statement and director Q&A
LAST RITES
“Pandemonium” is a surrealist reflection on death and sadness. It is filled with grief and borrows liberally across genres while still maintaining proximity to horror. Even though not all the ideas pan out, they are interesting enough to warrant a watch even if it won’t be something you’ll feel a need to revisit often or ever.
THE GORY DETAILS
Thank you to the fine fiends over at MVD ENTERTAINMENT for providing a review copy for the crypt! Pandemonium is available NOW and can be purchased via MVD DIRECT!
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