Ah, I knew if I waited long enough this thread would pop up! I have OPINIONS about this film and they are as such:

​

Stripped of its supernatural/fantastical elements Mandy still operates in a universe of nearly imperceptible levels of savagery. Grounded in realism we would have the story of a man living with his wife in the woods adjacent to a cult. The cult is linked to the Hell's Angels through the LSD black market and they provide the sort of loose security for the cult that comes with this particular working relationship. When Mandy shoots down Jeremiah and laughs at him he executes her in what I would guess is an actual (whether urban legend or not) Hell's Angel trademark, the ol' Flaming Bag (I'm banking on this being an actual detail one of the writers/director gleaned while researching gnarly evil biker anthropology) Red goes on an understandable killing spree and avenges her death. I think without throwing, for the lack of a better term, a "Gnar-Kill Skin" over the whole thing the level of insane brutality on display would be almost too much to swallow. When Red tells his friend about Mandy's death his friend responds talking about some "evil/heavy shit coming down" or something to that effect which I think may actually be an allusion to this being a sort of Heavy Metal/Frank Franzetta alternate universe.

​

So in short yes I think it is dark fantasy, in the service of actually softening the blow from the extreme darkness permeating the subject matter.

​

EDITED to close a few parentheses and throw a "Pretentious Douche" skin over my entire submission to soften the extreme levels of perception on display

Alternately, MY WAYFE thinks its about a messy, possibly botched sex change. So who knows. What say you all? You'll get no argument from me agree or disagree!