WARNING!
This a film worth going into blind. While this review does not contain spoilers, it does outline the premise that it might be more fun to discover for yourself.
Still here? Well then, let’s proceed.
Revenge is a dish best served cold, or in the case of Redux Redux, also known as Find Kill Repeat, it is a dish best served repeatedly. From its opening notes of grand and ominous music, and the image of a human body being burnt which cuts to a fight, heavy objects and a gunshot, the viewer is thrust into a violent world. Nor will this violence let up, so Redux Redux might not be a film for squeamish viewers. However, writer-director brothers Kevin and Matthew McManus have not created a lurid and exploitative gore-athon, but rather a gripping and often scary thriller of grief and cyclical violence that interweaves revenge, regret and the possibility of redemption.
The centrality of a woman overcoming and killing a man in the opening scene (and repeatedly as the film progresses) places Redux Redux in the revenge and even the ‘Good For Her’ subgenre, akin to Revenge, The Witch and Midsommar. However, its other predecessors include Memento, due to the protagonist’s cyclical quest for vengeance over the death of a loved one, and also Primer, Everything Everywhere All At Once and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. If that sounds like too heady a concoction, rest assured that these echoes are not directly referenced. How then, does all this work?
Our protagonist is Irene (Michaela McManus), pursuing revenge for the murder of her daughter by Neville (Jeremy Holm). Killing one time, however, is not enough, as once she has found and killed Neville, Irene does the same thing again, reminiscent of Guy Pearce’s Leonard in Memento. Also similar to Memento, she produces a Polaroid photograph and has various items key items about her person. Her ability to have keys, money and other supplies becomes clear when we learn she has a machine that allows her to jump between universes. Her commitment to move across the multiverse for the sake of her child is not dissimilar to Wanda Maximoff in Doctor Strange and the Multiverse of Madness, and the machine she uses to do so is reminiscent of the time machine in Primer. However, and to the film’s credit, Redux Redux maintains its originality and a sense of freshness despite these elements.
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Much of this freshness can be attributed to the film’s stripped-down approach. Aside from Irene, the only character with depth is Mia (Stella Marcus), a runaway who joins Irene on her journey. The surrogate other-daughter relationship is established as mutual if antagonistic, the tension over what is best for Mia plays hard on Irene. There is an especially emotional scene between the two in a diner, as Mia recounts
her history in an impassioned but controlled outburst. Notably, the scene including this outburst suddenly switches in an unexpected direction, and this sort of shift characterises the film. Set pieces begin with steady suspense before action erupts, and the McManus’ combine fast editing with sustained tracking shots, especially as Irene and Mia run away. Gun battles are shot at close quarters, diners and shops transformed into battlefields where a counter becomes literally lifesaving. The ordinariness of the characters helps here – despite dialogue references to The Bourne Identity and Back to the Future, Irene is pleasingly human and Mia even more so, neither of them performing great feats of athleticism nor engineering.
This does raise the one false note in the film, which is the world-building related to the multiverse device. For most of the film, it is simply a machine that facilitates Irene’s mission. But in one scene, exposition is provided which hints at an underground subculture based around the technology, its origin and wider application. The introduction of additional characters to provide this background is distracting as the background itself is sketchy at best. The scene with these characters is well shot and edited, but overall it does not add to the film narratively. Maintaining mystery or even tying the device more closely to cyclical violence might well have been more effective.
Aside from that one scene, Redux Redux is a triumph, showing that smart filmmakers can take a high concept and make something interesting on a low budget. The range of locations including motels, strip malls and open wilderness, the fast pace and strong framing of objects and people, such as shadows that also work as reflections, all serve to demonstrate the filmmaking skill here. Most importantly, the film is focused – both on its two central characters and their relationship – on the central themes of grief and revenge. Irene speaks about her obsessive mission costing her humanity, yet the engagement between her and Mia ensures that her pursuit does not become rote. Variety is ensured as particular scenes and locations reappear but with subtle shifts, such as the changing colour of a coffee cup, the responses of other figures that Irene encounters, a box filled with mementos (hello again), the vehicles she drives and the various murders of Neville.
These multiple encounters with Neville also carry impact, as the violence is brutal, shocking and scary, despite the repetition. The McManus’ incorporate pain into their violence, so we can feel the pain and suffering, yet never allow sympathy for Neville as he remains scuzzy, sadistic and even pitiful. Murderers in cinema are often presented as charismatic or interesting, but there is nothing interesting about Neville,
he is simply the threat, complete with a filthy home, blaring music and a remote location to dispose of bodies, and he exhibits no redeeming features. This ensures that our sympathies are always with Irene and Mia, especially when Irene expresses regret, not over killing Neville(s), but over the human impact of committing murder. Her self-awareness is sometimes a little pat, and the climax of the film is a bit simplistic, but it all makes an emotional sense that keeps the viewer engaged. And thanks to its subtle and sometimes sudden shifts, it is a film that rewards repeat viewing.
REDUX REDUX PLAYED AT THE IMAGINE FANTASTIC FILM FESTIVAL 2025
