Want to join one of the fastest-growing communities of UK indie horror fans and creators for FREE? Now you can! Director Davison opts to show her hand by the end of the film’s first act Bloody Mary Laidlaw is exactly what she appears to be, and by removing the ambiguity around her the film is able to focus on her mythology and obfuscate other mysteries that creep to the fore in the film’s final act. We are in a world of magic and witchcraft, where there will be no ambiguity about the nature of the evil on show.Īnd by placing the pagan rituals, blood magics and genuinely unpleasant murders front and centre, Mandrake creates a unique mood that sustains the film’s slow burn story. The plant howls in horror as it is torn from the earth, its unearthly cries killing the slave where he kneels in the mud. The opening scene of the film features an emaciated, chained victim scrabbling in the mud to unearth a grotesque, otherworldly plant-creature. After the disappearance of two young children in the woods shortly after Mary’s release, the line between myth and reality begins to erode as Cathy embarks on a nightmarish journey into the occult. Mary has come to be a figure of terror in the local community, with tales of black magic and pagan devils wandering the grounds of her dark woodland property turning her into a local legend. Our story follows parole officer Cathy (Deidre Mullins) as she is given the task of keeping tabs on recently released murderer ‘Bloody’ Mary Laidlaw (Derbhle Crotty) following twenty years in prison for the murder of her husband. A dark and unflinching tale of witchcraft, murder and the maternal condition, Davidson’s film casts a spell of blackest magic over the audience and provides plenty of unsettling imagery along the way. Lynne Davison’s Irish-folk horror Mandrake proved to be one of Glasgow FrightFest’s most interesting and icky hits.
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