Magick Mtn. — Magick Mtn. (DVD)
Magick Mtn. is a 2026 film that is desperately trying to be as mysterious, uneasy, and intriguingly cryptic as possible. But sadly, it largely comes off as badly amateurish, pretentious, and at points an out & out frustrating mess. Filmed in black & white- the film sits somewhere between fantasy and horror with mumblecore dialogue and darting occultic imagery- mixing together three rather vague stories set in Laurel Canyon. Here from Cleopatra Entertainment is a DVD release of the film- taking in a director’s/ actors commentary and a few other things.
The film was jointly directed/ written by Hana Mae Lee and Hal Satin. Ms Mae Lee is a actress, fashion designer, musician, artist, writer, filmmaker and make-up artist. This is her first directors’ credit, though between the early 2000’s and present day she has racked up forty nine acting credits to her name. Mr Satin has no other credits to his name.
The picture runs at around the one hour and twenty minute mark, and as I mentioned early it has somewhat of vague anthology structure- with a white face painted, very camp, and theatrical male character pop up every so often.
Anyway we open with a mix of darting imagery( a dead body lying in grass, a winged demonic creature running across a country road), and slightly longer dwells( a bald/ tattooed back man doing some form of ritual on a table with white paint/ chalk).
We then drop into our first ‘story’ which basically consists of a middle age/ meant to be official looking woman talking to a hagged faced man with long tanged black hair, strappy punk trousers, and safety pin covered black jacket. Both parties can barely act- with the male figure is largely turned away from the camera- the dialogue is mumbled/ hard to hear…but in time you work out he’s meant to a psych patient and she is his doctor.
The next ‘story’regards two stubbly, messy haired, satanic T-shirt wearing plumbers deciding they are going to start robbing houses…then one of them( for some reason) turns into a pointed ear/ hooked nose Gobin in a leather jacket, with no trouser wearing a black thong ?!.
The final ‘story’, which is the least coherent/ trying to be art story involves, a Spanish American female architect and a big bearded/ shaved haired man who maybe the devil. This story features a mix of just about heard Spanish & English dialogue- loads of washed out to light blown out effects, and little sense.
None of the three stories have a resolve/ point- with wondering at points boring dialogue. Around the ‘stories’ we get more flashing/ meant to be eerier/ occultic edgy imagery- some is semi impactful- like the found footage of a stalking/ winged demon, but most of it comes off as contrived.
Sonically we get a fairly interesting/ diverse selection for the soundtrack. Going from US punk, deathrock, 80’s metal, Aleister Crowley chants, and more experimental scoring.
Going from it’s plot synopsis/ seeing it's trailer I was really looking forward to Magick Mtn., but I’m afraid it was an out & out disappointment, which at points was a true trial to get through.
On the extras side we get a commentary track this brings together the two directors/ writers, and two of the films actors. This is a very chatty/ often muddle affair with people talking over each other. We find out the white face painted character is a great tarot card reader/ artists. They point out ‘actors’ as they appear, and ( surprise, surprise) we find out much of the acting is larely improvised. We find out the guy who played the demon often dressed up in the suit off set to freak people out off set. And they talk about who/ who isn’t wearing a wig. Later on they talk about the use of vintage lenses, the wonderful light in outside shots, and more. I’m afraid this was rather a chore to get through- with the contributors coming off as either pretentious or obnoxious.
Otherwise we have Bonus Compilation( 14.09) which is seemingly a selection of different cuts of scenes from the film. And there’s few trailer.
Normally I have a big soft spot for arty/ occultic films- but I’m afraid to say Magick Mtn. is bumbling/ baddly put together mess, which thinks it’s clever/ impactful- but is instead just dumb/ trying.