Movies
[Interview] Queering Conann: Bertrand Mandico Talks Influence and Intention
After seeing She is Conann at the Brooklyn Horror Film Fest, I couldn’t stop thinking about it. The film transported me to other planes of existence, and left me with a bunch of questions about the world She is Conann takes place in. Who would be better to answer these questions than the writer and director of the film, Bertrand Mandico.
*All of Mandico’s answers have been translated from French.
She is Conann is very surreal, from its ethereal environments to its dream-like narrative. What is your connection to surrealism? Who are your influences, and do you view yourself as growing from the tradition of French surrealism in visual art in the 1920s?
Bertrand Mandico: The origin and heritage of surrealism fascinates me. Already, many artists precede surrealism, the symbolists: Gustave Moreau, Odilon Redon, William Blake, and Comte de Lautréamont. They had a very strong influence on the writing of Conann. Of course, the surrealists like Bunuel, Ernst, and Cocteau (even if he was not part of the movement) fulfilled me. And also especially the women of surrealism:
Léonore Fini, Dorothea Tanning… The heirs and heiresses that are found in film, literature, and comics: J G Ballad, Cindy Sherman, Paul Grimault, Charles Burns, the Chapman brothers…
The vision of surrealism spans the ages. It is a movement that has been activated and conceptualized by André Breton before WWI.
But this constant concept is in perpetual mutation. Its influence continues to nourish the arts. Surrealism is a black angel of imagination. It reappears before each scourge.
I was very struck by the gender nonconformity in She is Conann. The scene that stood out to me the most is when Rainer says he is becoming a barbarian and shows that he has grown breasts. What is the significance of this scene? What was the meaning behind choosing a woman to play Rainer?
BM: Rainer is not gendered. He is all sexes. He is fascinated by Conann, he wants to be like her and to seduce her. I offered the role to Elina Löwensohn because I knew she would create a complex and ambiguous demon. I like to give actresses singular and unusual roles, not stereotypes, the roles that are usually given to men.
You’ve made a short film about Rainer. Can you tell me a little bit about the origin of his character?
BM: Rainer is a demon with the head of a dog with an appearance reminiscent of R.W. Fassbinder (a filmmaker I revere). In different beliefs, the dog is the ferryman, the one who can go to the otherworld, the world of the dead. I wanted Rainer to have a modern look, that of a photographer of fashion and of war, a person who feeds on flesh. Originally, there was the Celtic myth of Conan, who inspired Howard for the novels. The Conan of Celtic legends is surrounded by Fomoires (hellhounds), demons with the head of a dog. I am partial to the original image, to the mythology. In my film, Rainer accompanies Conann in her damnation and the more Conann dehumanizes herself, the more Rainer is humanized and lets his romanticism show. The first time I filmed Rainer for the theater was for a short film. He makes a Faustian pact with a director in lack of inspiration.
The film spends very little time on Conann’s mother, but as Conann ages, she grows wings mirroring the ones her mother grew when she abandoned Conann. What is the symbolism behind this?
BM: The bat wings are there to represent a being who accesses a “superior” state. A sort of archaic angel. The wings are in reference to the fallen angel of John Milton and also Walter Benjamin’s angel of history. Conann has the possibility of becoming immortal, but she prefers to prolong her harmful influence otherwise, as for her mother, she is a martyr who calls for vengeance.
Initially, I wanted to make a vampire or succubus film, but I found that the subject is seen and seen again. And what interested me was working on barbarism, aging, betrayal of ideals, and old age who kills youth.
How did you make the decision to show most of the film in black and white? Can you talk about the significance of color?
BM: I wanted to create a unity in the film which traverses eras and styles. Black and white unifies everything. We shot the whole film in an ancient steel factory at night. We pierced the darkness with light. We shot in 35mm and all the effects were done during filming. The black and white film attenuates carnal violence and magnifies the light. The color appears in two distinct ways, that of solace for the hell sequences and the meal sequence. I wanted to show hell with pastel colors which contrasts against the usual imagery of hell. Pastels are the colors of old age and early childhood, the colors of the cycle of life.
In contrast, there are inserts of warm and bold colors, they come to punctuate the film and bring flashes of violence, like Rothko animated.
As Conann matures, her barbarism changes. At 25, she is a warrior, at 35, a betrayer, at 45, a sadist; and at 55, a psychological terror. How did you come up with this progression for her?
BM: I started from the most raw and primary barbarity: “revenge” while trying to imagine a crescendo of sophistication, harshness, and perversity over the ages and eras – as if the different decades dictated the trends. But it is a very arbitrary vision. I wanted the film to gain momentum, but for the spectator to never anticipate what was going to happen. The first victim of Conann is Conann, and she must be surprised at each transition to the next age, even if she expects to find her future in ambush.
It seems in her life Conann was revered and feared, but is now damned to wander without her memories in hell. Can you elaborate on this punishment? In the universe you’ve created is there a moral arbiter?
BM: I was inspired by the divine comedy and the circles of hell, the damnations. Hell, in most beliefs, is being stuck in a loop of suffering and remorse, to be condemned to forget and recover memory, to relive harmful actions. The only thing that can save the barbarian is regret. Free will exists, it consists of taking another path when it appears, but it still needs to be seen. The deviations allow the avoidance of fatality.
The film is extremely focused on memory and personal history. Can you elaborate on why you think this is so important?
BM: Memory is the engine of the story. The memory of the original trauma – the death of the mother who provokes the desire for vengeance. The oblivion to escape her condition, the parenthesis. To modify collective memory to take power, install fascism, and finally recover her memory and her misdeeds, like a torture, the passage into the world of the dead. This question of the place of collective and personal memory is for me, a central question. The manipulation of memory is a tool for those who want to assert their power in an authoritative fashion. Also, dematerialization – the reliance on computers (which have their own problems of memory and storage) – the perpetual questioning of history, is a mistreatment of our memory, a weakening. It is a scourge that worries me and is the origin of many ills of our society.
The aesthetics of She is Conann reminded me heavily of films like The Neverending Story, The Labyrinth, and The Pagemaster with their otherworldly sets and fast-paced narratives. Are you influenced by these kinds of films?
BM: Not really. I thought of Lola Montes by Max Ophuls for the structure of the movie. Michael Powell for fantasy. And then all the films that use the ellipses, for movement through time. Throughout the sequences, I invoke filmmakers like Fritz Lang, Kaneto Shindo, Klimov, Pasolini, Cocteau, Coppola etc… The journey into the history of the barbarian is also a journey into cinema.
She is Conann is incredibly queer from the character’s relationships to their bodies. You’ve said in previous interviews that your work is queer in the original sense of the word of challenging heteronormativity. Why is this important to you? Is it hard to make these films in the present times of bigotry against the LGBTQ+ community?
BM: Because the Queer vision advances the narrative, breaks the clichés, deviates the imagination, and challenges censorship, it is an artistic and political choice, one does not go without the other. I’m trying to remain a free spirit. The original meaning of queer is synonymous with the freedom of mind and creation. I make films with a “modest” budget compared to the complexity of my ideas. I shot in 5 weeks in a unique location, which required us to be inventive and creative. Producing a film is never simple, the most important aspect is that it can reach the maximum number of spectators and touch their hearts.
She is Conann combines beauty with barbarity, having beautiful women as barbarians, and glitter in scenes of extreme violence. Why is there a softness to Conann’s world when she and her compatriots are so harsh?
BM: I wanted to talk about a very hard subject, barbarism, by offering a disturbing spectacle, because I juggle between attraction and repulsion.
I try to create a formal distance so that the viewer can take cinematic pleasure by watching my films. The form must carry the substance, like a wave carries a boat and prevents it from sinking into the abyss of pathos. I am working on the shift to render the unpleasant as tolerable.
But barbarism has many faces, like my Conann(s). A brutal and primitive face. But also a gentle, reassuring face. Barbarism hides in the pageantry, the smiles, the festive, the impeccable clothes, the superficial politeness. It is the manicured power that looks good in the media while shamelessly crushing the weakest under their patent shoes.
***
It’s always interesting to get a peak behind the curtain, especially in works that rely so heavily on symbolism and metaphor!
Keep your eye out, She is Conann officially releases November 29!
Movies
12 Upcoming Horror Movies To Look Forward To In 2025
As the new year rapidly approaches, it is time to set some resolutions. Since you’re here, let’s assume you’ve resolved to watch more horror movies in 2025. Well, I’m here to help you with that with my guide of the most exciting upcoming releases in the genre.
As the new year rapidly approaches, it is time to set some resolutions. Since you’re here, let’s assume you’ve resolved to watch more horror movies in 2025. Well, I’m here to help you with that with my guide of the most exciting upcoming releases in the genre.
12 Horror Movies to Look forward to in 2025
Please note that the release dates listed here are subject to change, and it’s entirely possible that some of these movies could end up getting pushed to 2026. Also, this list leans toward bigger franchise movies, because those are the titles that get release dates so far ahead of time. The next Longlegs or The Substance will likely be added to the schedule later, sneaking up behind you when you least expect it, as they very well should.
Companion (January 10)
Is this a “proper” horror movie or more of a killer thriller like Strange Darling or Fresh? I don’t care! It was produced by Barbarian’s Zach Cregger and stars Scream 2022/The Boys’ Jack Quaid, so I’m already seated. Also on hand are Yellowjackets’ Sophie Thatcher, You’s Lukas Gage, and What We Do in the Shadows’ Harvey Guillén.
Wolf Man (January 17)
Leigh Whannell returns to the Universal Monsters, after bringing 2020’s The Invisible Man to life. I don’t see a way this update of The Wolf Man starring Christopher Abbott can match the magic of The Invisible Man, but Whannell knows what he’s doing. Each subsequent directorial effort has been an improvement on the last (Insidious: Chapter 3? Solid. Upgrade? Awesome.), but even if he slips slightly, he’s never helmed a less than enjoyable feature.
The Monkey (February 21)
Theo James leads this Osgood Perkins adaptation of the Stephen King short story of the same name. That’s a roster of talent that can’t be ignored, even if Perkins doesn’t carry as much mileage with me as he does with many others. His presence will almost certainly prevent this from sinking into relative obscurity like 2023’s The Boogeyman, at the very least.
The Woman in the Yard (March 28)
There is basically no plot information for this upcoming Blumhouse production, which stars Danielle Deadwyler. Frankly, the title makes it sound like a thriller in the vein of Gone Girl or The Woman in the Window, which isn’t necessarily that exciting in 2024. However. The movie was directed by Jaume Collet-Serra, returning to the horror genre for the first time since… well, does 2016’s The Shallows count as horror? I say it does. Anyway, it’s been a while, and it’s good to have the director of Orphan and 2005’s House of Wax back in the fold.
28 Years Later (June 20)
The long-awaited sequel to the incredible 28 Days Later and 28 Weeks Later still feels like a fever dream. Reuniting director Danny Boyle and screenwriter Alex Garland is a move that could go either way, as their careers have taken widely divergent paths since collaborating on the original 2002 installment. The fact that it’s meant to kick off a sequel trilogy also gives me pause, as designing a new movie to spawn its own sequels is not exactly a recipe for success. All that said… I just don’t know how to not be excited about this one.
M3GAN 2.0 (June 27)
Sure, this sequel will probably have some try-hard scenes attempting to manufacture viral moments. But the first M3GAN was so much more than that dance scene, so if this can capture even half of that magic, we’re in good hands.
I Know What You Did Last Summer (July 18)
While the cast of this legacy sequel is still coming together, there is something exciting about the B-tier slasher franchise finally having a moment to itself in 2025. With just three movies and a TV show (two of which most people have never seen), the I Know What You Did Last Summer universe is a little sparse, so there’s something fun about it really being the only major, classic slasher franchise project we’re due to get this year.
Saw XI (September 26)
Speaking of major franchises… Can the crew behind Saw X capture lightning in a bottle twice? I’d sure like to see them try. While this movie was delayed from its original 2023 date, this is the closest we’ve gotten in some time to the classic era where they were just cranking one of these out every Halloween. That process doesn’t always result in the best movies, but the “fuck it, we’re shooting in three weeks” mentality tends to lead to wild choices more often than not (see Jason vs. the telekinetic girl in Friday VII), because there simply isn’t time to question them.
The Bride! (September 26)
I’m glad that, instead of continuing to try and make the Dark Universe happen over and over again, Universal now seems content to hand the keys to a particular monster over to an interesting filmmaker. This new take on Bride of Frankenstein, written and directed by Maggie Gyllenhaal, also features a stacked-as-hell cast that includes Jessie Buckley, Christian Bale, Penélope Cruz, Annette Bening, and Jake Gyllenhaal (now how in the hell did they manage to get him?). The Bride of Frankenstein is also woefully underrepresented in Universal monster movies in general, making this new take even more exciting.
Scary Movie (TBA 2025)
I’m personally not a fan of most of the Scary Movie movies, but that’s exactly why this reboot or whatever the hell it intrigues me so much. What exactly does one of those mid-2000s overstuffed parody movies look like in 2024? I gotta know!
The Ritual (TBA 2025)
Listen to this Exorcist-ass logline: “Two priests — one questioning his faith and one reckoning with a troubled past — must put aside their differences to save a possessed young woman through a difficult and dangerous series of exorcisms.”
Obviously it’s a huge ripoff, but what if I told you this movie stars Al Pacino and Dan Stevens? Now what can that be? This is another outing for the morbidly curious, perhaps, but color me intrigued.
Final Destination: Bloodlines (TBA 2025)
Production on this Zach Lipovsky and Adam Stein-helmed installment in the supernatural slasher franchise has wrapped, so this movie is happening, y’all. I say this as a stalwart defender of the fourth movie, so feel free to discount that one when I say that, pound for pound, the Final Destination is one of the most satisfying and consistent modern horror franchises, delivering thrills and spills to the point that you could throw a dart at a list of the five extant movies and have a good time with whichever gets chosen for you. Hopefully, this revival continues that trend.
Other horror movies slated to premiere in 2025 (many of which I’m also excited for, but this list ain’t a novel, so it had to stop somewhere): Heart Eyes (February 7), Vicious (February 28), Sinners (March 7), Untitled Insidious Movie (August 29), The Conjuring: Last Rites (September 5), The Black Phone 2 (October 17), Five Nights at Freddy’s 2 (December 5), Hell House LLC: Lineage (TBA 2025), Thanksgiving 2 (TBA 2025), Poohniverse: Monsters Assemble(TBA 2025)
Movies
The Best Horror You Can Stream on Shudder in November 2024
Shudder knows the holiday season is hard, so they are coming out of the gates swinging. Who has time to fight with their family when there are days of new creepy content to watch this winter? Whether you are finishing the latest season of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula, or checking out the five new Shudder Originals and Exclusives, that is just the tip of the iceberg for this beloved streamer. They are adding tons of throwback films, deep cuts, and international horror that I need in front of my eyeballs posthaste. Check out my top five picks below and know there is way more where they come from.
Shudder knows the holiday season is hard, so they are coming out of the gates swinging. Who has time to fight with their family when there are days of new creepy content to watch this winter? Whether you are finishing the latest season of The Boulet Brothers’ Dragula, or checking out the five new Shudder Originals and Exclusives, that is just the tip of the iceberg for this beloved streamer. They are adding tons of throwback films, deep cuts, and international horror that I need in front of my eyeballs posthaste. Check out my top five picks below and know there is way more where they come from.
The Best Movies to Stream on Shudder This Month
The Creep Tapes (Shudder Original Series)
The Creep Tapes will continue giving us glimpses into the mind of a serial killer who lures videographers to their doom with the promise of a paid job. Creep is one of the few found-footage franchises that I am obsessed with. Like many people, I had hoped Mark Duplass and Patrick Brice would give us another movie. So, I was pleasantly surprised they decided to make a series instead. Not only will we have the honor of seeing Duplass get weird weekly, but I also recently discovered that Josh Ruben will be in the building for at least one episode. My expectations are through the roof, but I think these weirdos (complimentary) will meet and surpass them.
You can watch The Creep Tapes starting on November 15th. New episodes will stream every Friday until the December 13th season finale.
Doc of Chucky (Shudder Original Film)
This Shudder Original is marketed as the ultimate account of the Child’s Play franchise. It charts the journey from humble beginnings to becoming the world’s most beloved killer doll. I am a Chucky stan account. So, I will run toward any documentary about Charles Lee Ray. However, this one is well-timed because Chucky was recently unjustly canceled after three killer seasons. Shudder is also adding all but the first film in the Child’s Play /Chucky franchise this month to mark the occasion. The streamer also has all three seasons of the show, which was the best horror series of the millennium. So, when we finish watching the documentary, we still have days of Chucky content in one place.
You can watch Doc of Chucky on November 1st.
Rita (Shudder Original Film)
13-year-old Rita flees a neglectful home and lands in a state-run orphanage. Her appearance gives the other girls hope as they believe it is a sign of a prophecy coming true, and they begin to plan their escape from their oppressive environment. This Shudder original is a fantasy film based on a tragic true story of brave orphans whose fight for survival led to a nationwide outcry for justice and reform. I expect to cry a lot while watching Rita. The holiday season is the appropriate time to do that, so the timing is immaculate. I also expect to fall into a research rabbit hole after watching because I am unfamiliar with this story.
You can watch Rita on November 22nd.
Tokyo Gore Police (2008)
A young woman in a privatized police force searched for her father’s killer while combating mutants. This movie came out in 2008, and I still have not seen it. So, I am grateful Shudder is allowing me to fix this oversight. It feels like Tokyo Gore Police will change my life and become my new personality. I am already rooting for this woman who is about to kick mutant ass in a futuristic Tokyo. Also, the fact that the trailer flags it as inappropriate and forces you to consent to watching it confirms this is about to be a moment. I cannot wait to check it out and stop being left out of the conversations.
You can watch Tokyo Gore Police on November 4th.
Tragedy Girls (2017)
Two death-obsessed teens decide to drum up content for their online show by murdering people and sending their small town into a frenzy. Tragedy Girls is one of the best horror comedies that has ever happened to me. What other movie has Alexandra Shipp, Brianna Hildebrand, Josh Hutcherson, Craig Robinson, Kevin Durand, and Jack Quaid on the cast list? I am still upset the rumored series fell through because I needed more time with the girls. This movie is one of the funniest, coolest, and most delightful slashers I have ever seen. It also holds a special place in my heart because I am forever begging for more Black girl slashers!
You can watch Tragedy Girls on November 4th.
Shoutout to Shudder for giving us a reason to be thankful this November! I plan to live on the streamer this month and soak up all the deadly fun. If my top five picks are not enough proof that you need to park it on the app, open Shudder and see the horrific wonderland for yourself.
12 Upcoming Horror Movies To Look Forward To In 2025
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