‘Hell knows no forgiveness’
Pandemonium is a 2023 French horror film about two men pondering their fates after a lethal traffic accident leaves them both dead.
Written and directed by Quarxx (All the Gods in the Sky). The Transgressive Production stars Hugo Dillon, Ophelia Kolb, Arben Bajraktaraj, Manon Maindivide and Sidwell Weber.
Plot:
Nathan (Hugo Dillon) considers himself a good man, a good friend, and a good husband to his late wife. All of this is challenged when he wakes up on the cold tarmac of an isolated mountain road, unable to remember how he got there. He’s not alone though. There is another man, Daniel (Arben Bajraktaraj), a cyclist, who is full of wild stories — stories about death, stories about horrific accidents — all of which are unsettling but only the start of Nathan’s troubles.
It soon becomes clear that he has no other choice but to continue his journey by stepping through the mysterious door that suddenly appears in front of them, as if out of nowhere. Some of the souls he finds littered along the way are too far gone, their stories too monstrous to suggest there’s any going back for them. The question is, is Nathan one of them, or has it all been a big mistake like he seems to think?
Reviews:
“Despite the tragic nature of the situation, Quarxx manages to downplay it thanks to his caustic humour, which transforms their descent into hell into a moment of pure surrealist horror […] A triptych dedicated to the exploration of guilt and divine punishment, Pandemonium is radical but distressing, charming yet poisonous. It’s a leap of faith into the arms of characters forced to wrestle with darkness to the point of no return.” Cineuropa
“Quarxx could have elaborated further on his vision of Hell to make it even more Miltonic or Dantean—Paradise Lost and Inferno are big, complex texts with many descriptions of Hell’s labyrinthine construction—but Pandemonium is still a horrific and mesmerising trip into the bowels of the Underworld.” Father Son Holy Gore
“Loosely inspired by ‘Dante’s Inferno’, Quarxx manages to seamlessly blend some dark humour in amongst all of the dread, and there is a lot of dread. It’s grim and gruelling and offers little hope for anyone who has ever sinned but it’s beautifully shot and well-acted with some cool monster make-up. And there’s a sequence towards the end that I know I’ll struggle to shake from my memory.” ★★★, The Fright Club
“Yes, it’s very bleak … but sometimes slyly, wryly witty and almost always poised and beautiful in a glistening, hard, extremely French manner (with imaginative, unusual creature design too). A calm, measured work of extreme horror – with a clutch of excellent performances – tiny Maindivide is a huge find, as one of the most terrifying yet believable monster-angel little girls in the movies…” The Kim Newman Web Site
“A bold statement from Quarxx, Pandemonium is impressive in its refusal to provide not so much as a glimmer of a redemptive arc for anyone and that alone should serve as a warning for anyone thinking about viewing this. However, for those of a strong constitution, this is one of the grimmest of fairytales, the least divine of comedies and the ghastliest of horrors for some time. Get ready for a bumpy ride into Hell.” ★★★★½ Love Horror
“This is a disturbing horror that takes us down a very dark path […] It brings to life uncomfortable stories that see people doing the worst […] With amazing effects and shocking stories, this one sticks with you long after it finishes.” ★★★★ Movie Reviews 101
“As the story delves into dark places, these tales drag on in ways appearing to wallow in the misery too much. It picks up upon returning to David, as excellent prosthetic make-up is showcased to help convey that humanity can never overcome their need to atone. It is a bleak message to carry amidst an overwhelming tone that may become much for some viewers.” The Reviewing Rodders
“Pandemonium makes you laugh, cry and question your existence all at once- it is a truly rare film! It is creative, visually stunning, funny (yes, really) and thought-provoking; I promise it is like nothing else you’ll encounter…at least until you reach the afterlife.” ★★★★, The Scariest Things
“Pandemonium is a dark and grotesque (divine) comedy, whose elliptical, episodic nature only adds to its jarring dislocations. Here Hell is everywhere – as above, so below – and yet somehow hope too endures, as death can lead, however arbitrarily, to rebirth, in what might itself be an eternal return. Meanwhile, the unsettling qualities of Quarxx’s infernal aesthetic prove undeniable.” 4 out of 5, SciFiNow
“Pandemonium looks great throughout, both in the macro, with its crisp cinematography, and micro, with a brief appearance from a computer-generated creature that has an amazing design and a number of fantastic practical effects masks. There are some shockingly brutal moments that are effectively deployed. And it’s clearly got some bones to pick with the whole eternal judgment thing.” Screen Anarchy
Release:
Pandemonium played at the Neuchatel International Fantastic Film Festival and Fantasia Film Festival and is screening at FrightFest in London on August 26, 2023.
FrightFest blurb:
“From the creative mind of artist Quarxx comes an aesthetically stunning and relentlessly macabre tale. Nathan and Daniel wake at the scene of a car crash, confused and seemingly unscathed. The two men begin to slowly understand that they did not make it. They are dead.
Nathan’s previous acts will now determine his fate, however reprehensible they might have been. He will have to leave this earthly world and enter the depths of Hell that await him for all eternity and be confronted with other tormented souls whose pain he will be forced to experience by the demon Norgül.”
Trailer [1080p HD]:
Interview with writer-director Quarxx:
Technical specs:
1 hour 35 minutes
