Director: Doug Rao
Year: 2025
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Cult
Plot:
Living on a religious cult’s compound, a teen with schizophrenic thoughts and hallucinations tries to make sense of the changing world around him as he grows into one of their most important rituals, eventually putting him and the rest of the commune in danger of his actions.
Review:
This was a somewhat disappointing and underwhelming genre effort. Among the brighter spots here is the generally intriguing work done to showcase life inside the cult compound where most of the film takes place. The first few chapters of the film present an odd mix of styles, from the religious purity rituals and performances that they go through to the series of instructions that are carried out regarding how they interact with each other as well as the leader, there’s quite a lot to enjoy here with how it all paints the kind of oppressive, fervent religious underground cult that rules with an iron fist and seeks to exploit others more than anything. It all creates a kind of setup that brings up a dark form of control that helps to put the finale in a bright spot, where it features the kind of explosive action that has a lot to like here once it all starts coming together.
Without those factors present, though, this one suffers quite heavily from a generally underwhelming approach to the way of life at the compound and what’s going on. The way everything comes together here is a rather confusing time trying to get everything together and make sense, looking to do more about the control of the guy who’s clearly mentally unwell, but this seems to do nothing with that kind of material that’s not too interesting. It tries to present this as the kind of setup to make him sympathetic for later, but it just points out the rest of the cult as so uninterested in that it makes everything feel bland and uninteresting instead, which ends up making everything just meander around until the end. It’s really the main issue with this one that causes it to slip up somewhat.
Overview: **/5
A likable if somewhat problematic cult film, there’s enough to enjoy here even though a majority of those are overwhelmed and pretty much bring it down for the most part. Those with an interest in this type of material or who are curious about it will have the most to like here, while most others out there should heed caution.
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