Streaming on Tubi!
Director/Written by John Berardo.
Check out the trailer here!!
When her sister Sophia (Gabriella Rivera) dies the first night living in a studio apartment, Liana (Isabella Gomez) decides to use the studio herself, not knowing it was the former residence of serial killer Jack Bernard (Jack Sochet). After Liana and her two friends are possessed and inflict self-harm on themselves, Liana calls in the services of her ex-boyfriend Peter (Maxwell Hamilton) a YouTube paranormal investigator who knows about the details about the killer. Meanwhile, everything paranormal seems to be swirling around a particular mannequin that came with the apartment.
THE MANNEQUIN is an often compelling and entertaining little paranormal slasher film. It starts with a black and white flashback scene of a model posing for a photographer. When asked to pose nude, the model shies away and chooses to wear some more revealing clothes instead. But as she changes, the photographer, who we find out to be Jack Bernard, hacks the woman to pieces. After a montage of other models suffering the same fate, we go to present day with Liana and Sophia as they move into the studio and all of this horror takes place. It’s an extended set up, but we aren’t finished, because we have to establish Liana’s relationship with her sister Sophia, her failing relationship with her boyfriend Peter, and her friendship with Hazel (Lindsay LaVanchy) and Nadine (Shireen Lai). That’s about a half hour of setup and while the opening was nice and bloody, I did feel the drag in terms of establishing all of these relationships. During these opening moments, it did seem as if writer/director John Berardo did his research in the fashion industry. He captures the vapid and self-centered nature of the fashion industry in a party scene and gives a few inside baseball looks at Liana and her more successful fashion designer sister Sophia as Sophia plans to establish herself in her new studio. I appreciated this deeper dive into fashion as it could have been just a hook to hang a slasher film on, but THE MANNEQUIN actually feels as if those in it know what they’re talking about. Still, this is just more time spent away from the paranormal and slasher stuff.
The other thing that really makes THE MANNEQUIN work is the script and performances from the three main leads being possessed by the evil spirits to harm themselves. These gals are funny and their sense of humor comes out naturally in the story. They sound like witty people talking with one another in ways that doesn’t usually occur in this type of slasher. These ladies act like they are real friends, making their plight all the more investment-worthy. Yet the lead, Liana (Isabella Gomez) is the least likable of the bunch, as she seems jealous of her sister’s success, breaks up with her boyfriend who may be a slacker, but is a supportive and nice guy, and finally, steals her sister’s designs to get into fashion school. While she does go through the wringer, none of these problems are really addressed later on in the movie. Sure, it makes her more of a realistic character, but with horror films being a genre where morals are learned, the focus is more towards survival than learning any life lessons in the end.
Once the horror starts, it is quite powerful. The gory acts of self-harm is unsettling, as the victim is caught in the process of doing it by someone who cares for them. These scenes really work as they don’t hold back and are quite gory and bloody. This is also paired with some often-frightening depictions of the ghosts haunting the studio. So, the shocks work on a spooky and more gut churning way.
I guess if there is an issue, the film really takes some leaps in the third act, with Pete returning. It’s one thing that he is a paranormal researcher, but he comes back full Father Damien mode, spouting rites of exorcism, understanding specific rules of the paranormal, that of course, are right on the money. Up until this point, he’s seen as a fuck up slacker and for him to make a third act appearance with all the answers just doesn’t click. On top of that, he gets pretty messed up during this climax yet inexplicably shows up unaffected by wear at the end. While he provides some comedic relief at times, the character just feels like an anomaly in the story and takes a lot of the agency away from our three damsels in distress.
THE MANNEQUIN is not a bad movie. The script zings and made me laugh. The actors are solid, though they don’t seem like your typical slasher movie thespians. There is a lot of gore and macabre things going on. But all of those elements just don’t fit together that tightly. While it lacks any appearance from Kim Cattrall or even Kristy Swanson and thankfully, there’s no Jefferson Starship on the soundtrack, THE MANNEQUIN has its moments of goodness.
