Pandemonium (2023) Review

After being involved in a car accident on a desolate mountain road, Nathan (Hugo Dillon) staggers out of the wreck, apparently miraculously unscathed, as is Daniel (Arben Bajraktaraj), the motorcycle rider he collided with. The initial feeling of elation soon evaporates as it becomes clear to both men that they have both perished and no sooner than they’re coming to terms with that, they’re confronted with where they’re headed. Put it this way, it ain’t upwards.

Writer/director Quarxx’s punishing quasi-anthology is a journey into the beyond in which the setting is literally The Beyond if anyone fancied spending time hanging around the nightmarish location in which the classic Lucio Fulci gore-a-thon ended up. As a huge fan of that film, I was delighted to see where the production design had taken it cues and how it allowed those new arrivals to explore the sparse environment in an inventive way.

Both movies share an air of the bleak and a certain inevitability as to the fate of its characters, but The Beyond is a cheerful walk in the park compared to Pandemonium. The unrelenting hopelessness of its situations and the sheer cruelty of those involved will prove a difficult watch for most, only slightly leavened by the injection of jet black humour. To give too many details away will detract from the experience, but the film often goes where you’re dreading, particularly in a middle section featuring a very disturbed young girl called Jeanne, played by Manon Maindivide.

Maindivide’s performance is like few others from child actors, in that she’s called upon to command the central role in a fairly lengthy and challenging segment which heads into some of the darkest territory I’ve seen in a while. She’s remarkable and gives a convincing portrayal of the unchecked evil lurking within this outwardly vivacious and privileged youngster, concocting actual theatrical set-pieces to justify her awful actions.

After the gut punch of this mini movie, the rest of Pandemonium arguably can’t compete but it heads off in another direction, dropping the already shaken viewer into a tale of bullying and suicide which doesn’t pull its punches either, including a sequence which, although incredibly effective and far from gratuitous, bordered on the unwatchably sadistic for me. Even so, it isn’t as if the film has crept up and dealt you a rabbit punch. Everything up to this point has been preparing you for the worst, and the worst is absolutely what you’re going to get.

After seventy minutes or so of staring into this cinematic abyss, a genuine sense of terror builds about how Pandemonium will wrap, especially as to the fate of Nathan. Given the parameters established, the final ten or so minutes does not disappoint, featuring a burst of spectacularly gruesome violence and a spine-chilling, stomach-knotting closing shot. Roll credits and a chance for you to head out, take in a few breaths of fresh air and think about your life choices from here on in.

A bold statement from Quarxx, Pandemonium is impressive in its refusal to provide not so much as a glimmer of a redemptive arc for anyone and that alone should serve as a warning for anyone thinking about viewing this. However, for those of a strong constitution, this is one of the grimmest of fairytales, the least divine of comedies and the ghastliest of horrors for some time. Get ready for a bumpy ride into Hell.

Movie Rating:

Pandemonium trailer: