The Sect (1991)

Memorable, crazy movie

Highly Overrated But Still Good

It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

Nothing like a bad Italian combination of "Rosemary's Baby" plus "The Wrath of Khan" to make for a low intensity boring film. The beginning of the film opens with evil satanic bikers killing i.e sacrificing some desert hippies. It then jumps to 1991 Frankfort where a Van Helsing looking guy (Herbert Lom) sticks a bug up a school teacher's (Kelly Curtis) nose. Very long. Very boring. Not well acted. There are better ways to spend your time and money.Released under the title "La setta."PARENTAL GUIDE: F-bomb, sex, nudity.

Another submission into the Lovecraftian film genre. So, being an HPL fan, I rushed to ebay and found a copy.This film, though low budget maintained a dark, sinister, atmosphere and does, indeed belong on the Lovecraftian list. Not only Lovecraft fans will like it, but so will possession movie fan, and it hold up with the likes of Rosemary's Baby, Beyond the Door, and the Manitou as a classic diabolic thriller. It reminded me of Fulchi films, but without the nonstop gore (and was still good anyway, ha ha ha). Hey, what more can you ask for? get two fixes with one flick!If you're a fan, check it out.

After nearly running over an ageing man (Herbert Lom), Miriam (Kelly Curtis), feeling responsible, offers the old man a place to stay for a short while. However, this innocent invitation triggers a series of events that would change her life forever.'The Sect' is at once an enthralling, mesmerising and stylish offering from Michele Soavi, the protégé of writer and producer, Dario Argento. Blending several styles of horror, Soavi's own unique presentation of the subject matter succeeds almost in entirety at being haunting, atmospheric and compelling. While one can see the influence of his mentor, Soavi is daring enough to put forth his own, unique brand of directorial style and flair to give 'The Sect' a distinctive appearance that sets it aside from many similar works of the era. His respect for the story and viewer is clear for all to see, never once opting for a style-over-substance approach, instead offering the stylistic elements as an accompaniment to what is already a considerably impressive film. The slow-pacing is an advantage to the film rather than a detriment and is unequivocally intentional. Soavi's methodical approach to storytelling allows him to not only develop his central character, but to gradually increase the tension in a way that does not feel forced and thus makes the climax all that more meaningful. Surrealism, unsettling visual elements and intriguing POV shots are all used to add to the atmosphere but never to become the main focal point. Above all, the keys to the grandeur of 'The Sect' are subtlety and mystery; everything else is but a bonus.To say that 'The Sect' is without flaws would unfortunately be inaccurate. However, the flaws are particularly minor in the scale of things and the negative effects of these lapses are virtually negligible. While great care has quite obviously been taken to ensure that the storyline remains rational, there are a couple of instances where illogical behaviour and actions are briefly noticeable. As mentioned, these have very little negative effect on the overall film but their use as plot devices is questionable to an extent. It is also worth pondering whether on occasion Soavi went into too much detail perpetuating the tension of certain sequences and disregarded the actual climax of the scenes? For the most part, Soavi took full advantage of the script, presenting an array of memorably shocking and surprising scenes, yet once or twice, the 'money shot' was lacking in the impact that one had come to expect and had a rather unsatisfying short-term effect. Despite these instances, it is worth considering that 'The Sect' managed to almost wholly steer clear of becoming predictable, almost as if Soavi and Argento could predict themselves how an audience would react and what they could expect.For those who doubt that modern Italian cinema is capable of producing innovative and enthralling horror, free of the paper-thin plots and unnecessarily excessive gore that has scarred so many other genre productions, 'The Sect' is the film that can prove otherwise. An occult horror/thriller full of twists and turns, shocks and surprises, surrealism, nightmarish dream sequences, symbolism, mystery and style, 'The Sect' is a film that only uses a bare minimum of special effects and instead acts almost as homage to the suspenseful horrors of yesteryear, such as 'Psycho' (1960), 'The Innocents' (1961) and 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968). Almost a pure work of art, 'The Sect' is Soavi staking a claim as possibly one of the best directors of the modern era. My rating for 'The Sect' – 8/10.

'The Sect' is a profoundly strange Satanic thriller. Directed by Dario Argento protege Michele Soavi (best known for the zombie movie 'Dellamorte Dellamore'), and co-scripted/co-produced by Argento himself, this shares the surreal, dreamlike feel of 'Suspiria' or 'Inferno', but without their distinctive stylish atmosphere. At times it appears to make no sense at all, especially the bizarre sequences using insects and animals, but it always holds your interest, and is certainly original and worth watching.Kelly Curtis plays the sexy but nice schoolteacher who finds herself the centre of an evil cult who have big plans for her. Horror veteran Herbert Lom ('Mark Of The Devil', 'Asylum', etc.) is a mysterious old man who she befriends after nearly accidentally running him over. Can he be trusted? Can Miriam's pet white rabbit be trusted? And what exactly do subterranean wells, a Manson-like hippie killer, evil storks, Lewis Carrollesque dream sequences, and sticking extinct earwigs up people's noses have to do with it all? I'll leave you to work it all out.A very freaky but entertaining movie that will probably become a future cult classic. Highly recommended.