Writer/director John Bernardo may only have a couple films under his belt, but his Initiation was one of my favorite slasher films of the last few years. His sophomore effort, The Mannequin, came with a certain set of expectations that resulted in a bit of disappointment from my end. Expectation: a movie about a killer mannequin. Reality: a movie about a serial killer ghost and a nearby mannequin that never moves, nor does it kill anyone. Still, despite this caveat, there’s a fair bit of fun to be found in this silly horror flick whose playful black-and-white sequences paint a pretty picture. An overall mixed bag of plastic, The Mannequin’s familiar ghostly chills are still worthy of a watch.
Decades after an aspiring pinup girl gets brutally slaughtered by her creepy photographer, stylist assistant Liana (Isabella Gomez) and her sister, Sophia (Gabriella Rivera), acquire the very same property where the murder occurred. The sprawling warehouse could be the perfect spot for their fashion studio. Not long after setting up shop, Sophia meets her maker, allegedly by suicide. Having recently broken up with her douchebag podcaster boyfriend (Maxwell Hamilton) who notably investigates haunted buildings, Liana is thrown into the deep end.
One year later, Liana, newly accepted at the fashion institute, decides to reopen the warehouse in celebration of her deceased sister. Liana’s friends—including Hazel (Linsday ) and Nadine (Shireen Lai)—don’t appreciate the way Liana chooses to cope with her sister’s death. Unbeknownst to the group, a malevolent spirit lurks within the walls of the warehouse, hungry for its next victim. A nude female mannequin could be key to the strange happenings…
John Bernardo constantly teases the truth behind the mannequin, always having the figure lurk in the shadows. When the ghosties arrive full force, they feel jarring and properly horrific. There’s an almost J-horror bent to some of their appearances. Once we finally learn the full backstory of the warehouse, it helps to fill in the blanks fully, even though we are always ten steps ahead of these characters. Liana is honestly kind of a boring character to follow throughout, but she does get a bit more interesting in the lead up to the climax.
Despite wishing for more of a mannequin-themed slasher movie, the ghostly possessions in The Mannequin are quite creepy. The characters are paper thin, but the horror does most of the heavy lifting. Even still, Bernardo’s sophomore feature never quite takes off in the way it should. It’s decent enough to throw on with some friends over, but The Mannequin deserves better than being the shell of a better movie.
The Mannequin screened at 2025’s Frightfest London.
