Here's what the creatures had to say:
Lord Battle - "Joe Lynch returns with his second installment of shot in Serbia video game narratives taking place in a single building films. Full of light laughs and film homage played like nerdy in-jokes, Mayhem reeks of "fun". I did really enjoy the fight choreography as it felt organic even if the staging ranges from casual hallway brawl to boss fights (literally). Fans of Office Space should seek this film out over The Belko Experiment." - 2.5 Stars
Wandering Panda - "A fun movie filled with mindless violence. Its story was a weak point and not very memorable, but the cast is great and the movie was shot beautifully." - 3.5 Stars
Math Mage - "A scathing criticism of corporate America written by someone who has never experienced corporate America. A beta male wish fulfillment/revenge film, written by a seventh grader who would totally kick everyone's ass if he really let loose but he won't because he's too nice. (super convenient that excuse virus is floating around)" - 2 Stars
Huntress - "It’s hard not to think of The Belko Experiment when you hear that there is going to be another high body count horror movie set in an office, but Mayhem gets further from Belko the more I think about it. Aside from the fact the Mayhem’s office workers were not fully in control of their behavior, while Belko was all about the choices people made, there was one difference that stood out to me much more; Belko was not afraid to make you feel awful. Mayhem was a lot more fun, with higher levels of adventure and fantasy, and it felt like a Joe Lynch movie. But the lack of real tension and atmosphere robbed this movie feeling even remotely horror." - 3 Stars
The Great Hornito - Walkout - Default 2 Stars
Trash - "It’s basically The Belko Experiment for people who like their movies tame, easy, structured predictably, and really think the world owes them something. A female lead who is so underdeveloped, it’s not even clear what she’s doing in the movie or if she’s got any kind of life outside of 1) looking hot 2) liking cool bands that boys like and 3) trying not to let the bank foreclose on a house that she may or may not own? It doesn’t matter because her purpose is to fuck the nerdy guy, who’s been suuuch a success in life, and absolutely is going to pick pursuing his art over a steady paycheck, (very realistic). Whatever corporate critique is going on in Mayhem will likely only work for people who have little to no corporate experience, but really hate THE MAN. That’s not how things work. That’s not how people talk. That’s not even the right vocabulary. And where the hell is HR? The violence is disappointing. The weapons are ineffective. Just do an ounce of research, please. I laughed once when someone said “I’ll suck your cock,” because the word cock makes me happy. Cock." - 1.5 Stars
Midnight Bloom - "I really enjoyed this movie, Steven Yeun and Samara Weaving make a good team! It reminded me of The Belko Experiment and Bloodsucking Vampires. Steven Yeun’s character as Derek Cho also reminded me of Glenn from The Walking Dead because of the way his character in the movie developed real quick, from taking everyone's shit, to not giving a shit, all while being a bad ass in a corporate office beating the shit out of everyone. This movie has action from beginning to end! Such a fun, cool story about how everyone gets infected by drinking water and how they go through different stages." - 5 Stars
The Overlook Theatre Final Rating*
As you can tell from my review, I was not the biggest fan of Joe Lynch's Mayhem. I do however realize that this is simply not my type of film. It lost half a point with me because of how aggressively the film comes off as a Steven Yeun vehicle. But this seemed to only affect me. Math Mage and Trash seemed to have problems with the very straightforward and transparent story (they were not shy about this), while the newest creatures Wandering Panda and Midnight Bloom were laughing out loud.
I've thought a lot about what informed our particular audience opinions that night, in an attempt to come up with a better explanation than age difference (in which there's at most 15 years), but it's looking that just may be it. The younger fiends are fans of The Walking Dead. The punk and wizard are not. Huntress and I fell off. This seems to say, well duh, if you like Steven Yeun you'll like the film. But what about Joe Lynch fans? Huntress, Trash, and I are all fans of the Joe Lynch personality and 2 out of 3 of us agree Wrong Turn 2 is the best of the franchise. Math Mage, Wandering Panda, and Midnight Bloom know nothing of him or his filmography... This appeared to be getting me nowhere until I changed up my approach. Instead of asking about who made the film and what the creatures thought of the individuals, I asked what did they want from the film? Trash and Math Mage are both very creative individuals. One is a musician, writer, and filmmaker. The other runs 3 different D&D games a week in 3 different styles with 3 different systems. While, Midnight Bloom and Wandering Panda are still figuring out what inspires them. So am I saying that thoughtful people will be bored by Mayhem? Maybe, but I don't mean it that way. Although the counter-argument to my compliment about the chaos within the frame being well constructed was that it was canned chaos, with every instance giving us the same equation of 2 guys fighting, 1 coupling having sex, and 1 crazy person acting wacky. I just feel like this could still be an age thing where the old can't help but compare and the young don't know any better. Anyway who cares, Steven Yeun is in it.
I've thought a lot about what informed our particular audience opinions that night, in an attempt to come up with a better explanation than age difference (in which there's at most 15 years), but it's looking that just may be it. The younger fiends are fans of The Walking Dead. The punk and wizard are not. Huntress and I fell off. This seems to say, well duh, if you like Steven Yeun you'll like the film. But what about Joe Lynch fans? Huntress, Trash, and I are all fans of the Joe Lynch personality and 2 out of 3 of us agree Wrong Turn 2 is the best of the franchise. Math Mage, Wandering Panda, and Midnight Bloom know nothing of him or his filmography... This appeared to be getting me nowhere until I changed up my approach. Instead of asking about who made the film and what the creatures thought of the individuals, I asked what did they want from the film? Trash and Math Mage are both very creative individuals. One is a musician, writer, and filmmaker. The other runs 3 different D&D games a week in 3 different styles with 3 different systems. While, Midnight Bloom and Wandering Panda are still figuring out what inspires them. So am I saying that thoughtful people will be bored by Mayhem? Maybe, but I don't mean it that way. Although the counter-argument to my compliment about the chaos within the frame being well constructed was that it was canned chaos, with every instance giving us the same equation of 2 guys fighting, 1 coupling having sex, and 1 crazy person acting wacky. I just feel like this could still be an age thing where the old can't help but compare and the young don't know any better. Anyway who cares, Steven Yeun is in it.
The Overlook Theatre materialized in a residence for a screening on 12/14/2017
*Based on the star ratings turned in by character reviewers, others viewed and got to "Dislike" or "Like" but that does not affect the rating.
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