A man named Nathan wakes up to find himself lying in the middle of a winding mountain road. “I made it”, he utters after seeing what’s left of his wrecked car, “I’m not hurt”. But then he’s startled by a voice. “What a crash,” says a man standing in the ditch. His name is Daniel and he was riding the motorcycle that Nathan hit head-on. Now they both stand in the road having a conversation with no soreness, no wounds, and no signs of injury. “We didn’t make it,” Daniel says, informing Nathan and us that they are indeed dead.

That startling sequence opens “Pandemonium”, a chilling and enigmatic nightmare from the mind of French writer-director Quarxx. His latest film plays like an interconnected horror anthology – one built around a supernatural premise that uses elements of genre and theology in its examination of such subjects as death, grief, regret, and suffering. There’s almost a Poe-like quality as the movie cavorts with the macabre. But there’s also a strong human component leading to the film being surprisingly philosophical in addition to being frighteningly surreal.

The story of Nathan (Hugo Dillon) and Daniel (Arben Bajraktaraj) takes up roughly one-third of the film and serves as a fascinating launching point. As the two interact the reality of their predicament takes hold and truths about their lives begin to surface. It’s made even more real with the sudden appearance of two doors, one gleaming like beautiful flawless crystal; the other made of cold and austere metal. The Heaven and Hell representation is obvious, but it’s Quarxx’s dialogue mixed with the ominous setting that makes the scene hauntingly effective.

Without giving away too many details, we end up following Nathan as he enters his door and descends into Hell. There he’s greeted by a dark and desolate sight – falling flakes of ash, the distance rumble of thunder, and corpses littering the dusty ground, each with their own horrifying story to tell. Among the bodies is that of a little girl named Jeanne (Manon Maindivide). A short distance away lies the body of a woman named Julia (Ophélia Kolb). From there Quarxx breaks off to tell each of their stories starting with Jeanne.

Jeanne’s segment is shown (mostly) from the little girl’s perspective and at times plays like some grim and twisted fairytale. But the truth behind what we see is far more sinister and deranged. We follow Jeanne as she gleefully tromps through her family mansion, the bloody bodies of her murdered parents laying in the study. Jeanne blames their deaths on her deformed friend Tony the Monster (Carl Laforêt) who lives deep down in their basement. But what really happened in the house proves to be much more ghastly.

From there we move to Julia (Ophélia Kolb), a mother who has snapped after discovering the lifeless body of her teenage daughter Chloé (Sidwell Weber) who has committed suicide. Quarxx gives us a handful of revealing flashbacks showing Chloé being relentlessly bullied by a group of girls at school and neglected at home by Julia who was too absorbed in her career to see that her daughter was in pain. Unable to bear her daughter’s death, the distraught Julia goes to some pretty dark and twisted places.

The movie eventually returns to Nathan, putting a fantastical and gruesome cap on his story while attempting to provide an ever so slight glimmer of hope. The ending doesn’t answer many questions. In fact you could say it poses far more. But that’s part of what Quarxx is going for. With “Pandemonium” he wants to challenge our first impressions and push us to wrestle with what unfolds over time. He offers no easy interpretation or cut-and-dry solution. And he adds subtle yet distinctly different points-of-view which add layers to some of the deeper themes.

While the story itself is challenging and thought-provoking, just as much is conveyed through the striking visual presentation and sound design. Forbidding imagery, inspired practical effects, the disquieting score from composer Benjamin Leray – it all feeds into the eerily captivating vision of a filmmaker who wants us to think as well as squirm. “Pandemonium” opens May 27th in select theaters and on VOD.

VERDICT – 4 STARS