In The Mannequin, director John Berardo (Initiation) returns to the horror genre with a slick, visually appealing ghost story centered around trauma, legacy, and the fashion industry. While the film starts strong and features some undeniably creepy moments, its inconsistent pacing and tonal shifts ultimately hold it back from becoming a modern horror standout.
The story follows Liana Rojas (Isabella Gomez), a creatively blocked stylist assistant who moves into a historic downtown Los Angeles building, one that also happens to be the site of her sister’s mysterious death. When Liana uncovers the building’s grisly past involving a serial killer who posed as a headshot photographer, she and her friends find themselves caught in a deadly game with a vengeful spirit who has no intention of letting them leave intact—literally.
Let’s start with what works. The film opens with a stylish black-and-white prologue that feels like a twisted homage to The Twilight Zone, with just the right dash of Sin City-style flair (the blood is red, everything else drained of color). It’s an impressive and well-edited sequence that sets the tone with eerie atmosphere and retro dread, complete with period-accurate sexism and cigarette smoke. If only the rest of the film maintained that same momentum.
From a technical standpoint, The Mannequin is impressive. Jonathan Pope’s cinematography, which earned him a 2025 Grand Jury Prize, is sleek and immersive, making excellent use of the industrial-chic LA location. Emily Peters’ award-winning production design enhances the unsettling vibe with vintage fashion pieces, retro lighting setups, and uncanny mannequins placed just right to keep you on edge. The score by Alexander Arntzen and the sound design by David C. Eichhorn also deserve mention; whispers, footsteps, and eerie ambient noise go a long way toward building unease in scenes where not much is happening.
That last point, though, leads to one of the film’s biggest issues: pacing. After the strong opening, the film stumbles into a sluggish middle section. Time jumps are handled awkwardly, and despite solid performances from Gomez and Lindsay LaVanchy (as her confidant Hazel), there's a point where it feels like the narrative is circling the drain. You might find yourself counting minutes between scares or plot progression. For a movie that clocks in at 85 minutes, that’s a problem.
The haunting itself starts promisingly, with the possession angle providing some unnerving body horror and ghostly set pieces. However, Berardo repeats the same shock tactics too many times, lessening their impact. Imagine watching the ending of Hereditary over and over again with diminishing returns. By the time the story veers into ghost hunter territory, the tone becomes a bit too cheesy to maintain the sense of dread established early on.
Still, there are surprises here. Krystle Martin (The Mean One) is a welcome presence, and there’s a fun, if underutilized, twist near the end. Berardo, who also handled the film’s visual effects himself, clearly has an eye for style and a passion for the genre. The film, produced under a SAG interim agreement during the 2023 strikes, feels like the product of a tight-knit crew (many of whom are from UCLA/USC), and that cohesion is evident in the film’s craft.
Ultimately, The Mannequin is a film that looks great, features strong performances, and begins with a bang, but it struggles to sustain its energy through the second and third acts. While hardcore horror fans might find it underwhelming, it may serve as a solid gateway into the horror genre, especially for those interested in fashion or modeling. Think less killer mannequin mayhem and more haunted fashion shoot.
Jessie Hobson