If you were wondering what fan favourite actor Steven Yeun has been up to since the infamous demise of his character on The Walking Dead, wonder no more. Here he is, gloriously and deservedly front and centre in a new action-horror movie about workplace frustrations, and how to work them out. Directed by Joe Lynch (Everly), and written by Matias Caruso (in his feature length debut) – this is the trailer for Mayhem.
If the promotional footage above puts you in mind of 2016’s The Belko Experiment, you’re not incorrect. Both centre their action around violence between people trapped in an office environment for an extended period of time. There’s an important difference, though.
Where The Belko Experiment is steeped in conspiracy and suspicion, Mayhem could not be simpler. An infection sweeps through the offices of Towers & Smythe Consulting, and the government quarantines the building. They then inform those inside that the symptoms – being a complete loss of inhibition and restraint – should subside in eight hours.
This gives us a ‘ticking clock’ plot device, a basic survival situation, and a locked box full of people just brimming over with the kind of long-held resentments we all develop while sitting in our cubicles. The trailer – featuring plenty of Steven Yeun and his ally for the story (a customer played by Samara Weaving ) – presents Mayhem as a no-holds-barred workplace fantasy, in which all of those little scenarios workers have pictured in their heads can now play out.
We Got This Covered’s own Matt Donato watched the film at SXSW 2017, and concluded in his four-star review that Mayhem is “a wonderfully violent middle finger to corporate culture, gleeful in its desire to redecorate cubicles with blood red splatters.”
Could this be the most relatable flick of the year? Find out when Mayhem is released in theatres, on VOD and Digital HD on November 10th.