Beyond Mamushi

 

Domestic abuse, domestic violence, mental health issues-rape... all of these types of things unfortunately have been going on for decades now. They all seem to have more prevalence now than ever when you consider how they used to be kept in the shadows-mainly because of the internet. We all as people have some sort of psychological crisis taking place because of the digital devices that we use every day-phones, tablets, laptops. Anything that has a bearing in technology gives us access to way more information than we're supposed to be able to handle, and it gives way to the dam being broken on our mental stability. That sort of thing doesn't really play a huge role here in Beyond Mamushi though. Our main characters Kate and Chris barely touch their phones or anything during the duration of this moody, atmospheric and darkly disturbed piece put together by M. W. Daniels-this is just a straight up psychological thriller that I really don't think anyone who's a fan of this specific type of horror should miss out on. I'm going to point out here right off that my favorite thing about Beyond Mamushi has to be the cinematography. What a beautifully shot film from start to finish and even though the color palate employed here was mostly white and sort of muted in the background to give the viewer more of a sense of the dread that needed to be felt here, I thought it was perfect and a lot of single frames here ignited my heart as to why I also love photography as an art form. There were a lot of individual shots here that when I saw them as the film played out, I really just wanted to pause it and take screen shots because they just had a photographic quality to them that needed to be printed and framed on a wall somewhere. Maybe that's going a little to far with the quality, but I can't help it. That's what I was thinking when I was soaking in the way this was filmed and I personally thought it was a show stopper. But the crux of Beyond Mamushi is an interesting one because there's an ambiguity about if this really is all in Kate's head as Chris is seemingly mentally abusive towards her, or is he really an asshole that needs to be put down. There's a second and third layer to this as well because there's a scene where before Chris and Kate are going to leave to go to Scotland for awhile, they have dinner with Chris' dad as sort of a send off type of thing to check up on him and to say goodbye for awhile. Earlier before this, Kate writes down on a piece of paper that she needs to kill Chris on his birthday, and while she's in the bathroom at his father's house before they leave, she accidentally drops it on the floor when she walks out. She realizes this and tells Chris that she needs to go back to his dad's place because she thinks she left something there, so when she goes beck to retrieve this piece of paper, his dad tries to rape her and she ends up fucking killing him right there on his kitchen floor. I honestly was not expecting that to happen because it's just not something that I was thinking about in the context of the film in that moment, but it added a slather of tension and urgency that leaves you feeling like anything can happen and nothing is off the table. Now here's the other layer I was talking about-Ama Mamushi herself. She is presented as a psychologist or mental doctor or some sort, and Kate contacts her to talk to her about what has been going on in her life with Chris. She's the one that ends up giving Kate the idea of killing Chris on his birthday in the first place, and as a medical professional, something like that is just never the answer. Ever. But she takes the advice and ends up writing what she writes on that piece of paper and fully plans on executing what Ama told her to do. Now, here's where Ama gets tricky (and makes me think that Kate was just possessed or haunted by her as a spirit in the new house that Kate and Chris have moved into) because Kate sees Ama or imagines her at one point while we're getting towards the end where she tells Kate that she committed suicide in front on everyone at her husband's birthday party in the very house that they moved into. That actually just led me to believe that Kate may not have had any mental issues at all and she was just taken over by Ama's spirit this entire time, but maybe not. That's what makes Beyond Mamushi such a great psychological thriller is because you don't actually know and you need to deduce it on your own. I really, really liked this indie title immensely and if you have the chance to check it out, for the love of God just do it. I put this high on a pedestal now for high praise this year in 2026, and I'll plug this thing as a reference for awhile. Also, one last thing-I really liked the symbolism for Kate with her rainbow kite. It showed us that she still was craving freedom and a spiritual state of chameleonism where she could do whatever she wanted whenever she wanted, and the flight and airspace of that kite just made her feel alive. Really enjoyed it. Put Beyond Mamushi on your list towards the top. It wholly deserves it.