Major league weird cat and heir to an award losing breakfast cereal “empire” Jay Mandao (Scott Dunn…who also wrote and directed the film) lives with his equally eccentric adult nephew Jackson (Sean McBride)…who sleeps in a tent within the apartment…yeah…Anyway, the night before Halloween, Jay has an out of body experience via astral projection which eventually leads our heroes to begin astral projecting slightly backwards through time to help a ghost avoid their murder. Absolute insanity ensues.
Mandao of the Dead is one hell of a bizarre ride boils n’ ghouls. Everything from our off-kilter heroes…played with likable charm, even when Jay is being a tad on the gruff side and Jackson is being…Jackson, to the strange astral projection, time travel, and murder angles, and left-of-center humor all coalesce into a heady stew of engaging storytelling, solid world building, and just straight up fun.
On the downside, the pacing of this film is equally as odd as the story itself. The story, well always entertaining, meanders along at it’s own pace…and at times, the film seems longer than it’s rather brief hour and fourteen minute running time (including credits). And as stated, this strange pace certainly fits in with the overall aesthetic of the piece…I can’t help but think that some additional editing may have helped the finished product overall.
Pacing issues aside; Mandao of the Dead is a charming winner of a flick, comprised of characters you enjoy spending time with along with some great usage of genre tropes such as psychic abilities and time travel. I dare say if you dig on flicks like Dave Made a Maze or John Dies at the End, then Mandao of the Dead will certainly fit very well within your wicked wheelhouse.
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