Mayhem

I’m relatively new to horror films. As much as I’m a fan of horror comics like Hellblazer or Ghost Stories of an Antiquary by John Reppion, and horror comedies like Shaun of the Dead, I tend to shy away from actual horror films. I don’t really like being scared. I can’t fully explain the cognitive dissonance here. It might have something to do with the fact that the lurid illustrations of a Hellblazer comic are so clearly fantastical and fictional that, while they present dark corners of the human psyche, they tend to gross me out over actually scaring me.

But I want to explore more of horror cinema. I want to learn more about film and being a film critic, which makes ignoring as big and influential a genre as horror cinema unwise. So, with that in mind, I’ve set myself up with a Shudder account. But what film to watch first? I decided to play it safe with another horror-comedy: Mayhem, a story about a rage-inducing virus starring Steven Yeun and Samara Weaving.

You might think watching a horror film about a virus during a pandemic is a bad idea. The Andromeda Strain probably isn’t a wise choice, nor is Contagion. But Mayhem was a bad choice for different reasons. It’s a mostly middling film. The plot points are predictable, the characterisation is so thin as to be translucent, and if it’s going for any sort of social commentary then it does so very poorly. What it does well, however, is wreaking havoc and destruction. It’s a film that answers the question “Wouldn’t you just like to go apeshit for a while?” with a resounding “Yes, of course you would, so have fun.”

Steven Yeun plays Derek Cho, a beleaguered legal worker at a by-the-numbers corporate firm that’s not so much evil as amoral. Cho refuses to help with the case of Samara Weaving’s Melanie Cross, who gets angry. Cho calls security on Cross, but is shortly fired for a different reason. By this point, the whole of the corporation’s monolithic office tower has been infected with the “Red Eye Virus.” This is a virus which heightens stress hormones and removes personal and moral inhibitions from the infected. Chaos duly ensues.

And what glorious, glorious chaos it is. Security guards, feckless HR managers, reviled colleagues, all of them fall victim either to each other or to Derek and Melanie as they make their way to the top of the tower. People have their heads bashed in with hammers, pulped in photocopier trays, or for those who aren’t so full of anger, have sex with each other. At the top of the tower, assuming their positions offer them protection from the floors below, are the heads of the corporation. These people have the power to reverse Melanie’s case’s refusal and grant Derek his job back. Not that he likes his job: his narration over the opening scenes tells the audience that he has come to hate his work, but he needs it because of the economic benefits it confers on him. By contrast, Melanie is seeking an extension on a loan to ensure a relative’s house isn’t taken away by the bank. Our two protagonists originate from similar economic hardship, but arrive in the story in different places. Initially hating each other, they inevitably come to love each other. There is even a gratuitous sex scene.

Because that’s the thrust (ahem) of the film. What might in different hands have become an Erin Brockovich-esque heartbreaking tale of the underdog triumphing against a corporate behemoth is instead an excuse to watch corporate minions exercise their demons and smash up an office block for 90 minutes. Imagine The Belko Experiment but with more humour. The Red Eye Virus removes a victim’s inhibitions. So, in other words, it’s the equivalent of the Crossed virus from Garth Ennis’ series of the same name. In that series, the infected give in to their absolute worst impulses: murder, rape, nuclear holocaust, you name it, and the virus is transmitted by bodily fluids. Peak Garth Ennis. Mercifully, while Mayhem has absolutely no qualms about showing frustrated colleagues murdering each other with walking canes, staple guns, screwdrivers, and worse, nobody is shown to be sexually assaulted. People have sex openly and publicly, including our protagonists, but they steer well clear of on-screen rape. We should be thankful for that.

But ultimately, that’s all the film is – an excuse for violence and a sex scene. It has something approaching a commentary about cutthroat corporate culture, and the amorality of capitalism, but the thin characters and a tendency to revel in violence mean the commentary doesn’t get much breathing room. Melanie and Derek survive long enough for the quarantine team to have purged the virus from the building (would that such a feat could be accomplished in real life). Derek kills the CEO, takes over the company long enough to resolve Melanie’s case, and then resigns to enjoy the more artistic life he really wanted all along.

You might ask at this point: are there any consequences for his actions? Of course not. That would bring the comedic aspect crashing down. Derek reacts so violently to losing his job not just because of the virus, but because he’d believed it to be secure. He had, prior to the film’s start, ensured both his and his firm’s reputation on a legal precedent: those infected by the virus aren’t responsible for their actions while under its effects. This essentially makes the Mayhem the bastard offspring of The Purge and Office Space and not as good as either.

In short, because I’ve waffled on for 900 more words at this point than the film really deserves, Mayhem is reasonably fun if you enjoy comedy violence. Hate your office job and wish you could wreck the place without consequences? This film offers that cathartic escape. But there are much better films out there, and I look forward to whatever comes next on Shudder.