Revenge on Repeat: The McManus Brothers for REDUX REDUX
- Rich
- 14 minutes ago
- 8 min read
Here we go again…
With their latest feature, Redux Redux, the McManus Brothers — filmmaking duo Kevin and Matthew — dive headfirst into a mind-bending multiverse tale where reality fractures after a vengeful mother is caught in a violent tight spot after her daughter is killed. Her answer: kill the multiple versions of the murderer. This is as cerebral and visceral experience layering high-concept science fiction with intimate human stakes as the brothers (with their sister Michaela McManus in the lead) explore the cost of second chances and the dangerous allure of rewriting the past. With its mix of genres and propulsive narrative, this is a rare instance in recent genre filmmaking that keeps the audience guessing right up until the final frame.
In a recent interview, Kevin and Matthew took some “time” out to discuss the origins of the project and the challenges they faced in their repetitive use of ultra violence…
As brothers, how do you collaborate on a project like this — do you split the writing and directing duties cleanly, draft separately, or even focus on specific characters?
Kevin McManus: We’re a bit more of a two-headed monster. We do a ton of prep before every project to make sure we’re totally in sync and on the same page. Our writing process is really collaborative too. We usually break the whole screenplay before we put words on the page, and then trade the screenplay back and forth, and rewrite each other the whole way through. So, it always feels like we already have a pretty healthy rewrite by the time the first draft is done!
Do you feel Redux Redux connects thematically or stylistically to your other films, Funeral Kings (2012) and The Block Island Sound (2020), or is it very much a film designed to launch a new chapter as filmmakers?
KM: In a lot of ways, The Block Island Sound was sort of the proof of concept for Redux Redux. We had been working on Redux for quite some time, but needed to raise a higher budget than we had in the past. So, The Block Island Sound was a bit of a stepping stone. Ideally, we wanted to show audiences our love for grounded sci-fi, and then use that film as a calling card to get Redux Redux financed and produced. So, there are a lot of thematic and stylistic similarities between the two, but of course, the action is dialed way up in Redux.
I love the multiverse spin, but with your unique take on comic book tropes. I’d love to hear about the potential influences, whether comic books, novels, or other movies that may have inspired the tone or structure of Redux Redux?
KM: The two north stars for Redux were really the original Terminator film from 1984 and the incredible revenge movie, Blue Ruin. The Terminator influences are all over Redux. Certainly, with our sister playing a Sarah Connor-style character, but we also wanted to keep the sci-fi at a bit of an arm’s length, and tell a smaller, more intimate story like that film does. But we also wanted to lean into the L.A. crime and neo noir style that The Terminator really nails. So there are loads of diners, and desert landscapes all over Redux to try to capture a little bit of the style and tone we love so much about The Terminator.
“… we also wanted to lean into the L.A. crime and neo noir style that The Terminator really nails.”
— Kevin McManus
Jeremy Saulnier’s Blue Ruin, from 2013, is a terrific revenge flick that we immediately fell in love with on release. Our favorite part of that movie is the first act. The whole story is told with such little dialogue and a masterful use of staging and camera work. You know exactly what’s happening every step of the way, all with just the use of blocking, body language, and camera work. It’s all so effective that you’re on the edge of your seat with barely a word spoken. That very much inspired the beginning of our film.
I’m interested to hear what the original spark was for Redux Redux — was it a specific idea, image, or question the two of you couldn’t shake?
KM: The concept was really born from the desire to tell a multiverse story in a smaller, more personal way. I think the multiverse genre’s closest relative is time travel. And if you think about early time travel movies, so many of them felt like excuses to tell fantasy stories. Sort of like, how do we get our heroes to live among the dinosaurs, or be a member of King Arthur’s Court? It wasn’t until we watched movies like the original Terminator or Back to the Future that we started to really appreciate how a time travel story can lend itself to a smaller, more personal story.
Tech-Noir. Time travel and the violent influence of James Cameron's THE TERMINATOR (1984).
With Redux Redux, we wanted to get away from the wildly different worlds you see in so many multiverse stories these days. If there’s a truly infinite amount of universes out there, then so many of the changes between one universe and the next would be infinitely small. For us, it was about toying with what kind of story we could tell where each universe was almost identical. What would that do to someone who traversed the multiverse trying to change their circumstances?
Do you ever disagree creatively, and, if so, how do those disagreements improve the final film?
Matthew McManus: All the time. We try to work out those disagreements early and are big believers of being as prepared as possible so that those disagreements don’t become issues on the day. As much as we may disagree from time to time, we also trust each other implicitly. If one of us has an issue, we both know there’s a problem we have to fix before we get into production, and I think it usually gets us results that we’re both happier with.
Blast from the past? Irene (Michaela McManus) becomes a relentless avenger.
What do you think it is about parallel and multiple universes “exploding” as a storytelling device over the past decade?
MM: It really helped us out as a device. When we first wrote this movie, the multiverse was an underutilized sub-genre, and we had written a long exposition dump to bring the audience to water and educate them in all the rules. Now that it’s so ubiquitous, we were able to strip a lot of that exposition and stay focused on our characters.
“If there’s a truly infinite amount of universes out there, then so many of the changes between one universe and the next would be infinitely small.”
— Kevin McManus
With your own multiverse tale, did you find yourselves mapping the story (mathematically?), or did it evolve more intuitively, draft by draft?
MM: We’re story structure nerds and always map out our films on index cards before jumping into a screenplay. Oftentimes, our characters and their arcs present themselves to us more intuitively, while our story beats are more mapped out and planned. So much of the writing process is done before your fingers hit the keyboard. You’re dreaming up all these different beats and moments and putting them in their right place. By the time we’re ready to sit down and write the screenplay, you just let the characters take over.
The film plays with repetition and consequence in a brutal way. What were you hoping audiences would ultimately feel… on repeat?
KM: We’re suckers for violence. The movie ultimately had to work first as a revenge film, and revenge films are at their best when the violence feels original and visceral… and we hope it works on that level. But on the other hand, we hope the theme starts to really come through in that repetitious brutality, and more specifically, how Irene never seems to find catharsis in that violence.
Looking for trouble. Irene and Mia (Stella Marcus) seek alternatives.
This is a great genre mash-up — from thriller to sci-fi to horror. What was at the core of making all of that work onscreen?
MM: There was a great saying in the Cobra Kai writers' room: in every episode, someone has to get kicked. That show was very much a character-driven story, but the creators were smart enough to make sure you never lost sight of the martial arts that the audience tuned in for. Redux Redux is similar in a way. It’s a character-driven revenge film, and you just had to make sure that you delivered on the parts of the movie that made it fun. That’s where the violence, scares, and action come in, whereas traditionally, time travel stories often promise a sense of control or, at least, course correction.
Redux Redux feels more about inevitability. Was this added tension intentional from the start?
MM: The great thing about multiverse movies is that you can’t just rewind the clock. You have to find a universe where a very specific change happened, and it could be impossible to predict or navigate. That allowed us to tell a story about a woman who can’t find that one change she’s looking for. This is a story about a woman who wants control, who wants to course correct, and won’t let go. Obsession can be a powerful thing, and we’ll find it’s slowly destroying the person she once was.
“The great thing about multiverse movies is that you can’t just rewind the clock.”
— Matthew McManus
The protagonist, Irene, makes increasingly disturbing choices. Were you always willing to push the action and violence as far as possible, or was there ever a limit?
MM: We were pretty excited to push it as far as we could. We were confident the audience would be on board after what Neville did to Irene’s child. There was a whole day on set where we asked our special effects makeup guru, Hugo Villasenor, to just come up with any horrifying way to kill Neville, and he brought a lot of beautiful brutality to the movie!
In light of this — with your sister Michaela in the lead — how did you all balance keeping Irene relatable while letting her cross moral lines?
MM: Michaela has such a warmth and deep well of empathy that we knew she would be able to dance on that line. There are also moments between her and Jonathan (Jim Cummings’ character), and then, of course, Mia, where you could see the softer side of Irene.
The other wonderful thing about revenge movies is that the violence often feels cathartic. I had a woman stop me after a screening at SXSW, and she told me how much she hates ultra violence, but she was quite pleased to see Neville get what was coming to him over and over again.
Final cup of coffee. Will anything change for Irene or will she lose herself completely?
The repetition mechanic could easily become confusing — how did you decide what to show, what to skip, remix, and “redux”?
MM: We assumed our audience would probably think this was a time-loop movie for the first fifteen minutes or so, and wanted to slowly indicate to them that, actually, Irene is moving forward in time, just in different universes. We tried to find fun little tweaks to each scene to clue them in that this was actually different and not the same. We made sure none of the dialogue repeated and that little details (like the color of the coffee mugs) changed from scene to scene. Our hope was that the audience would expect to see the same scene twice and be even more surprised as the violence erupted.
Do you see the violence of Redux Redux as spectacle, punishment, or consequence — or all three?
MM: I think all three elements are critical. The violence of Redux Redux is born out of a desire for punishment of the man who killed Irene’s daughter, but as she enacts it, she suffers the consequences. It’s not clean and easy; it’s brutal and slowly destroys her. Finally, violence in film needs to be a real spectacle. I hate violence in real life, but can’t get enough of it in movies. Why do we love violence in movies? In the immortal words of Tarantino, “because it’s so much fun, Jan!”
What do you hope lingers with an audience after they survive the film?
KM: Ultimately, this is a movie about trying to reclaim something you’ve lost. To not accept your circumstances and unring the bell. The real theme of the movie was born from this proverb that no man can step into the same river twice. Different river, different man. That’s what Irene is going through.
Kevin McManus and Matthew McManus on Instagram via @kevinjmcmanus and @matthewmcmanus. Redux Redux will
be in US theaters this Friday, February 20, 2026.
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