Mandrake

Great collective performances of the Mandrake's cast sets the movie's standard high. Great dialogues not even the slightest overdoing. It's a unique story with an equally unique northern Irish setup. The remoteness and it's culture is fitting very well with the damp gloomy woods of witches. Cinematography is excellent intensifying the this folk horror story. Great visuals rich with the cold misty colour of the surroundings. Mandrake is a story involving a infamous criminal out of prison and a demon figure roaming marshland so that's a pretty good mix and it's all about people who become naive due to great expectations.

This is an Entertaining folk horror, with a tense build up with strong characters. The extremely creepy and scary atmosphere is well curated and it's obvious alot of effort has gone into this production. The film is well structured and had a satisfying ending.

I enjoyed the rural Ireland setting.which I felt have an interesting insight into the dark side of Irish folk stories.

This is a very decent horror story which doesn't rely on shocks and gore or a damsel in distress.

The performances are very strong and the production is a showcase for up and coming talent.

Conclusion is 5 stars would recommend.

I love horror movies from the UK, British, Irish, Welsh and Scottish horror movies seem to be the most effective, probably because they tend to be more atmospheric and low key and don't go for gross out torture porn. Mandrake is a very moody and dark story with excellent acting and a very creepy musical score that helps build tension.

The two leads are very good and carry their roles well. It's nice to see a movie not relying on the typical damsel in distress trope, but having a strong female protagonist.

This is a very effective horror movie for those that want something a little different..

It seemed like there was much potential to be had here but it just slipped away somehow. The film quality and scene locations were great, seeming to set everything up for a dark, twisted and impactful little folk horror movie. But it just never materialized.

Stereotypical characters followed a stereotypical plot and ended up at a stereotypical ending... if they had focused more on the woods and the mandrake and the evil magic at work, it could have been a great movie, I think.

This is a good "ten o'clock Saturday morning movie to pass the time." But I wouldn't recommend caring about it after 6PM.

Too bad, it felt like there was a lot of missed potential...

MANDRAKE tells the story of a probation officer who is supposed to oversee the rehabilitation into a rural community of a woman who killed her husband and went to prison for 20 years. The locals think she is a witch, and indeed when the probation officer visits her home, there are unsettling signs everywhere: her house is full of occult objects, she behaves rather strangely, and she somehow knows things, like that the officer has a son (who in the film displays symptoms consistent with cystic fibrosis) and that the father, her ex-husband, is the local police officer. Soon two local kids go missing and everyone suspects the "witch".

The biggest problem with this movie is that it does not make the motivations of the villain clear. What was the reason for the kids' fate? What did the villain ultimately want? What were the plans for the "mandrake baby"? If the two victims in the first part of the movie were meant as a sacrifice, how did the villain not consider the immediate consequences?

Some possibilities are hinted at, but the film does not rally explore them, so they end up being little more than suggestions for a guess. As the movie has a sort of open end, the lack of sense in the motivations of the villain becomes quite annoying. I feel like I spent nearly 1.5 hours watching a a sequence of events play out without understanding what drove it.

I like my villains well-motivated, so to me this is a fairly significant drawback. On the other hand, the film does a good job of going into unpredictable directions, and it is undeniably atmospheric. Fans of horror films which put a premium on atmosphere will like this film, but those who like to understand character motivations will likely feel frustrated.