THE MANNEQUIN (2025)
Streaming on Tubi!
Director/Written by John Berardo.
When her sister Sophia (Gabriella Rivera) dies the first night living
in a studio apartment, Liana (Isabella Gomez) decides to use the
studio herself, not knowing it was the former residence of serial
killer Jack Bernard (Jack Sochet). After Liana and her two friends are
possessed and inflict self-harm on themselves, Liana calls in the
services of her ex-boyfriend Peter (Maxwell Hamilton) a YouTube
paranormal investigator who knows about the details about the killer.
Meanwhile, everything paranormal seems to be swirling around a
particular mannequin that came with the apartment.
THE MANNEQUIN (2025)
THE MANNEQUIN is an often compelling and entertaining little
paranormal slasher film. It starts with a black and white flashback
scene of a model posing for a photographer. When asked to pose nude,
the model shies away and chooses to wear some more revealing clothes
instead. But as she changes, the photographer, who we find out to be
Jack Bernard, hacks the woman to pieces. After a montage of other
models suffering the same fate, we go to the present day with Liana
and Sophia as they move into the studio and all of this horror takes
place. It’s an extended set up, but we aren’t finished, because we
have to establish Liana’s relationship with her sister Sophia, her
failing relationship with her boyfriend Peter, and her friendship with
Hazel (Lindsay LaVanchy) and Nadine (Shireen Lai). That’s about a half
hour of setup and while the opening was nice and bloody, I did feel
the drag in terms of establishing all of these relationships. During
these opening moments, it did seem as if writer/director John Berardo
did his research in the fashion industry. He captures the vapid and
self-centered nature of the fashion industry in a party scene and
gives a few inside baseball looks at Liana and her more successful
fashion designer sister Sophia as Sophia plans to establish herself in
her new studio. I appreciated this deeper dive into fashion as it
could have been just a hook to hang a slasher film on, but THE
MANNEQUIN actually feels as if those in it know what they’re talking
about. Still, this is just more time spent away from the paranormal
and slasher stuff.
The other thing that really makes THE MANNEQUIN work is the script and
performances from the three main leads being possessed by the evil
spirits to harm themselves. These gals are funny and their sense of
humor comes out naturally in the story. They sound like witty people
talking with one another in ways that doesn’t usually occur in this
type of slasher. These ladies act like they are real friends, making
their plight all the more investment-worthy. Yet the lead, Liana
(Isabella Gomez) is the least likable of the bunch, as she seems
jealous of her sister’s success, breaks up with her boyfriend who may
be a slacker, but is a supportive and nice guy, and finally, steals
her sister’s designs to get into fashion school. While she does go
through the wringer, none of these problems are really addressed later
on in the movie. Sure, it makes her more of a realistic character, but
with horror films being a genre where morals are learned, the focus is
more towards survival than learning any life lessons in the end.
THE MANNEQUIN (2025) Streaming on Tubi!
Once the horror starts, it is quite powerful. The gory acts of
self-harm is unsettling, as the victim is caught in the process of
doing it by someone who cares for them. These scenes really work as
they don’t hold back and are quite gory and bloody. This is also
paired with some often-frightening depictions of the ghosts haunting
the studio. So, the shocks work on a spooky and more gut-churning way.
I guess if there is an issue, the film really takes some leaps in the
third act, with Pete returning. It’s one thing that he is a paranormal
researcher, but he comes back full Father Damien mode, spouting rites
of exorcism, understanding specific rules of the paranormal, that of
course, are right on the money. Up until this point, he’s seen as a
fuck up slacker and for him to make a third act appearance with all
the answers just doesn’t click. On top of that, he gets pretty messed
up during this climax yet inexplicably shows up unaffected by wear at
the end. While he provides some comedic relief at times, the character
just feels like an anomaly in the story and takes a lot of the agency
away from our three damsels in distress.
THE MANNEQUIN is not a bad movie. The script zings and made me laugh.
The actors are solid, though they don’t seem like your typical slasher
movie thespians. There is a lot of gore and macabre things going on.
But all of those elements just don’t fit together that tightly. While
it lacks any appearance from Kim Cattrall or even Kristy Swanson and
thankfully, there’s no Jefferson Starship on the soundtrack, THE
MANNEQUIN has its moments of goodness.
