Dementamania (2013) Reviews

• Well crafted and interesting but does not grip the viewer

  mungflesh2013-09-12

  Ed Arkham is a well-groomed and dressed software engineer, working and living in London. In the flat next door is a psycho bunny-boiler whom he regrets having slept with (multiple times) and his work colleagues are a bunch of oddballs whom collectively get under his skin. The viewer is invited to live out Ed's taboo fantasies, through his eyes, which break up his mundane routine, as he mutilates irritating male colleagues and has thrilling sex with the female ones. An insect's sting, which occurred at the start of the story, proves to be a steadily growing distraction as his skin rapidly develops a nasty rash as a result. As time passes, we begin to get a sense of foreboding around Ed's destination. It becomes increasingly obvious the movie might not have a happy ending. Sam Robertson is solid and looks comfortable in the role of Ed but a lot of the great lines and interesting moments come from Pablo, played by Robert van Twillert. The film sits in the psychological study genre, alongside stuff like Memento, Identity and Shutter Island but fails to provide a core plot compelling enough to grip the viewer. This might be intentional, as I never really found the movie to be dull, as it plays off set-pieces rather than a clearly defined central plot but I do think it treads a fine line on that issue. Dementamania is unlikely to make waves at the box office and probably won't get a lot of people talking about it, at least for a while. I do feel it has potential to be a slow burner and likely to become quite a cult favourite, due to its dark wit and graphic interludes. It is most certainly a memorable watch.

• Weird-mania

  kosmasp2013-10-29

  This movie is very weird to say the least. It does follow a narrative and it does achieve what it sets out to do. Which is mostly alienate the viewer and put him/her into a mindset, that will feel completely crazy. It does work, even though I can't tell you why it does. It's not perfect by a long shot, but it doesn't have to be. The acting is more than decent and the set is good too. Especially when you consider the low budget the movie has to work with. Some things might be obvious, but some things might actually surprise you while viewing this too. One thing is for sure, you have to be more than open minded to actually enjoy this. It's not like the movie is trying to get sympathy points or get us to like characters as it is. Objective achieved

• great film

  thelordgl2013-09-12

  Great piece of film making. This director will go far. In todays venture into the making of films there are to many trying to make a good film. They only get as far as being able to show it on some media dross channel on computer. This is not the case with this film. Having lived here in Los Angeles and worked in the film industry in Horror and adventure and Sci Ffiction I can say without and doubt that Kit Ryans film is very entertaining and most thought provoking. It delves into realms that most of us would be to ashamed to admit we think about, let alone give into in our every day life. Mr Ryan please keep up the high standard of work and I shall see you here in Los Angeles hopefully on a movie set.