Mayhem

Review

Mayhem is okay. That’s basically it. This movie was unimpressive but not bad enough to be entirely memorable. I’ve only seen half of The Belko Experiment and that half was 10x better than this entire film.

Mayhem is about a virus which makes people act without inhibition and with the most extreme emotions. A office employee is fired for something that was not his fault but before he can be escorted out the building is put under quarantine due to the virus being detected within. The employee decides to take this opportunity to demand his job back through threats of violence and ends up teaming up with someone the company screwed over to fight his way to the top to show his boss just how serious he is.

To this movie’s credit, it is funny. The comedy comes from the movie being the most dramatic iteration of this story that is possible. The absurd drama as humor is almost reminiscent of the type of humor present in Everything, Everywhere, All at Once, but not executed as well.

Steven Yeun and Samara Weaving are absolute icons and they absolutely kill it throughout this film. It should be no surprise as they are two staple actors within the genre that any horror fan should recognize.

Honestly my issue comes down to how mid the film is as a whole. Our main character is a corporate asshole and his turnaround happens so quickly that I still couldn’t find much motivation to root for him other than him being Steven Yeun. Samara Weaving feels very tacked on and like a sidekick, or worse, a reason for this movie to have a sex scene. I barely remember much about this movie only a week later and after a month I don’t think this movie will be even a blip in my memory other than ‘oh yea that Belko knock-off…’