LOUD KRAZY LOVE: A Love Letter to Korn Fans and Christians Alike

          KoRn is a band that is not usually associated with Christianity, or religion in general. However, over ten years ago, Brian "Head" Welch left the multi-award winning band to pursue a new life. This was a story that I had heard before as I had started following Head after the release of Save Me From Myself  a decade ago.

        Head's album is what got me into KoRn. At the time, KoRn was putting out albums without Welch, and many would say that they were struggling during his absence. Loud Krazy Love tells the story of Welch hitting rock bottom and how God changed (and continues to change) his life in the process. Head would be the first to tell you that he really was at rock bottom. Drugs had a hold on his life and were getting in the way of raising his daughter. Regardless of who or what you believe in, and if you are religious or not, when watching this doc it is abundantly clear that Welch went through a tremendous change.

TL;DR    9 out of 10 

          I cannot recommend this enough. This is a great documentary for both KoRn fans and believers alike. This is by no means a Christian documentary, which I think makes it that much stronger as it reaches a whole new audience. There is explicit language throughout, particularly from KoRn front man Jonathan Davis who seemed to be the only band member who was/is anti-religion, but the documentary never claims to be about anything more than Brian Head Welch's life since leaving the band, and his later return. This might not be one for the kids, but nevertheless I highly recommend it. 

Let’s Talk About MANDY

For anyone who had already seen Panos Cosmatos’s 2010 sleeper synth surrealist film

Beyond the Black Rainbow, early reviews of Mandy back in 2017 peaked our interest as we knew a Cosmatos movie starring Nic Cage would be interesting to say the least. And boy howdy was it ever. 

I was lucky enough to make a one night screening of it back in September, and I recently watched it on DVD, and I still don’t feel like I’ve seen it enough to accurately give my opinion on it. 

Let me start out by saying, Mandy will not be for everyone, this saddens me, but it's true. Mandy is an acid fueled (literally), vengeance driven thrill ride, and it's a blast to watch. The movie is a love letter to B-movie horror action thrillers of the 80's and a tribute to metalheads everywhere.

   

Ok enough Cage gifs, there are just so many good ones. 

Mandy is its own beast. It certainly has horror elements and will please genre fans, but it is first and foremost a satisfying revenge flick that is unlike anything I've ever seen before. It is something you can watch and fully immerse yourself in. But what makes Mandy as good as it is is sir Nicolas Cage, love him or hate him, nobody could have played the part as well as he did (watch the scene in the bathroom and tell me another actor who can go from full rage to sobbing in the course of a minute).

Ironically, Cosmatos originally wanted Cage to play the antagonist Jeremiah Sand, but Cage said he wanted the starring role. 

Mandy is by no means the goriest movie I've ever seen, but it's a gore-fest in the way that it comically uses its violence. Mandy is not a comedy, but Nic brings his fiery comedic charm that I appreciated before, but now love with a burning passion. I could talk about this movie all day, but I'm afraid I'll spoil something and you're better off going into this movie completely blind. 

TLDR:  10/10

For fans of horror, surreal, arthouse, or straight up weird movies, you CANNOT miss Mandy, I can't stress this enough. I've never done drugs, but I feel like Mandy is a safe (and satisfying) alternative, as it draws you sleepily in, by the end, spiraling into complete and utter gleeful madness. 

Sorry I couldn't resist.