The Mannequin offers well-executed if familiar thrills.
Written and directed by John Berardo (Initiation), The Mannequin is a supernatural thriller that’s part ghost story, part possessed object horror, part serial killer thriller and part female friendship drama. As such, it’s occasionally a little uneven in the storytelling, but it all comes together for a decent climax.
In a beautifully shot black and white prologue, a serial killer posing as a fashion photographer in 1950s Hollywood murders and dismembers his victims. Cut to the present day, where sisters Sophia (Gabriella Rivera) and Liana (Isabella Gomez) buy an old disused studio and move their fashion business into it, only to find a creepy-looking mannequin that apparently belonged to the former owner.
When Sophia mysteriously dies after a night alone in the studio, Liana and her best friends Hazel (Lindsay LaVanchy – Predator: Killer Of Killers) and Nadine (Shireen Lai) attribute her death to suicide. But after Liana moves into the building to continue her sister’s business, she begins to suspect that the creepy mannequin might harbour some sort of supernatural threat.
The main problem with the film is that confining the action to a single location (the studio) severely limits the number of kills in the first three quarters of the film. There are very few characters, so things don’t really get going, possessed-mannequin-kill-wise, until the final act.
In fairness, there are some decent jump scares along the way, and Berardo (who also cameos as the studio’s letting agent) maintains a suitably creepy and suspenseful atmosphere throughout. On a similar note, when the kills do finally start happening, they are solid and sufficiently gore-soaked, even if they could conceivably have been a little more inventive.
With the main horror-based action of the film largely confined to the third act, the script and cast have their work cut out to sustain audience interest until that point. Happily, the characters are likeable enough – and the performances are good enough – to carry that off, ensuring that we are invested in the survival of the three women before the ghostly mannequin murdering starts.
On a similar note, the friendship between the women is nicely observed, and a cut above the way these relationships are normally written, with distinctive, interesting characters. Let’s just say that the film passes the Bechdel Test with flying colours.
Despite the uneven nature of the way the story unfolds, it does at least come together for a decent final act, which fully leans into the supernatural elements by way of an attempted exorcism. On that note, it is slightly amusing that Liana’s ex-boyfriend (Maxwell Hamilton), who had previously disappeared from the story, just so happens to be an expert in dealing with demonic possession.
In short, this is an engaging horror story that gets the job done thanks to a creepy atmosphere, strong performances and a couple of decent jump scares, but it’s also both uneven and a little underdeveloped. It’s been left wide open for a sequel though, so maybe those problems will be fixed in The Mannequin 2.
The Mannequin is out on VOD now.
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