Mayhem: DVD Review

Arriving this week on DVD, Blu-ray, and Ultra High-Definition 4K is Joe Lynch’s “Mayhem, starring Steven Yeun (“The Walking Dead”), and Samara Weaving (“The Babysitter”).  The story has some similarities to last year’s “The Belko Experiment” but make no mistake, “Mayhem” is a whole lot more fun.  I first caught this one last March during SXSW before it wound up becoming an audience award winner at Popcorn Frights Film Festival here in Miami.

Director Joe Lynch (the guy who made the best “Wrong Turn” movie, part 2” as well as “Everly”) made sure his latest, “Mayhem” lived up to the title. This is a balls-to-the-wall corporate killing spree in which the recently fired, Derek Cho (Yeun) and a former client (Weaving) team up to take down the executives that wronged them. They must also battle the employees who have been driven mad by a mysterious virus which as spread across the building. Due to a quarantine, nobody can escape, and everyone is out for blood.

Lynch makes the most of his single location and Yeun proves he is up to the task of leading this thing. As first one might think that the actor is basically playing the same role he did in “The Walking Dead”, but oh no, this is much different.  Sure, Derek is taking down rabid infected lawyers, much like the way Glen took down zombies, but the two characters are completely different. The infected are also much more intelligent since they aren’t zombies.

“Mayhem” is fast, fun, and has a wicked sense of humor. If you are a fan of good genre films, you are going to want to pick up this one for yourself.

By: Marc Ferman