Pater Noster and the Mission of Light

I discovered my favorite movie of 2024 streaming on Night Flight. I love how record store culture is portrayed, with complete strangers bonding over obscure music and ending up sharing overnight listening parties. And the gradual descent into a bugfuggen crazy horror movie is masterful, especially given the microbudget and unknown cast. My jaw dropped open so often from watching this movie, I got cottonmouth!

Cult director Christopher Bickel also tosses in a mushroom-soaked soundtrack that tries as hard to make you trip as some of the movie characters, who seem to think nothing of dosing unsuspecting visitors with psychedelics. Highly recommended to fans of Master Of Horror and the original Evil Dead trilogy --

As a vinyl collector who also has more than a passing interest in cults, this indie horror flick sounded tailor made for me. I was not disappointed. It was obviously written by someone who is well versed in both obsessive music collection and religious cults. While it does suffer a little from some of the typical issues present in many low budget efforts (some of the acting and dialog could be a little stronger), it more than makes up for it with its ambitious scope and the gonzo nature of the final act. Gorehounds will not be disappointed, the practical effects are well done and plentiful. The catchy and authentic sounding cult tunes didn't hurt either. I liked it so much after watching it streaming online that I bought the Blu Ray.

I had no involvement in the making of this film and did not even contribute to the crowdfunding campaign. I just read some other good reviews of it online and gave it a chance.

Honestly, for general audiences this movie would probably rate a 4-5. However, for those who like low budget gorefests, I'd rate it a solid 8.

Working in a used record store, an eager employee tries to search for a fabled album from a legendary rock band from the 70s that's rumored to be immensely rare and valuable due to a curse surrounding its release, leading the group to their still-running commune that holds a deadly secret.

This was a fantastic genre effort with a lot to enjoy about it. The main feature to enjoy here is one of the more likable storylines in this particular style that has quite a lot to like. The central premise involves the search for the album after coming into contact with the community and how rare their work is so that the eventual stumbling upon them and getting a chance to go visit them on their secret ranch feels entirely earned and worthwhile. The series of secondary features here, from the psychedelic nature of their music that's designed to hook victims into their origin status, the hidden messages within the lyrics helping to expand their base, and the malicious antics in their beliefs, all bring about a vicious and rather chilling streak here following up on the fun first half that involves the search for their history and getting to know the group quite well. It all leads nicely into the incredibly fun series of tortures that are immensely brutal and creative which makes things far more fun than they should. Taking the group to isolated areas of the compound and using a series of tricks to drug them and start torturing everyone to complete a ritual of theirs, this one makes for a great time as the scenes involving the drummer being seduced and taking to their remote room, the friendly one being attacked in the kitchen, and the chase to bring the escaping friends in their bus all getting immensely fun elements added to the torture. With the enhanced psychedelic nature of everything due to the drug use being added to the experience so everything is wrapped in a disorienting haze with echoing voices and trippy visual aesthetics, this being far more than expected becomes a fantastic attribute here as the stellar indie effects and downbeat needing all add a lot to this pone leaving it a highly enjoyable time. There isn't a whole lot to knocking this down but it does have a few minor issues. Among its few drawbacks is the fact that it's so obvious what's going on at the commune that it's not all that surprising what's happening and can quite easily be seen what's coming. Once they get there and realize that the group is far more devious than the hospitality lets on, it's all accomplished in the same means that most other cult films of a similar vintage attempt feature which is the use of splitting them up, drugging them, and performing their rituals on everyone. This does make everything slightly less threatening and intimidating knowing what's going on but it doesn't knock it back that much. Very little of this one is explained or makes sense so it's basically carnage for the sake of carnage as the brief bits about completing a special ritual are all we get here, which are the issues present with this one.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Violence, Graphic Language, Nudity, and drug use.

TLDR: An interesting homage to old school cult cinema with a soundtrack that is strangely addictive. While an enjoyable watch, the film suffers from the normal issues with lower budget indie cinema in that that production value is lower and the script may have benefited from one more pass.

Christopher Bickel does a solid job with his throw back cult film about a nefarious hippie commune who uses music to lure in an unsuspecting record store clerk into a situation straight out of 60's/70's psychedelic cinema. The cast here is fairly good with the standouts being Adara Starr as the main protagonist, Max, and I was thoroughly entertained by Mike Amason as Pater Noster. The rest of the cast rounds it out well enough considering the budgetary restraints. The gore, surprisingly, was ample and utilized a style befitting of the timeframe. Some cliches and tropes had me rolling my eyes at times, but with any homage to a classic style of cinema that is to be expected. I don't foresee that many audience members will capture anything new in this film, but it's use of music both as an inciting event and as a frame for the story was well done and not something that I see very often. The idea of a film having it's own score/soundtrack is a lost art in modern cinema and I really wish it would make a comeback. Short story long, this is an entertaining, throwback piece of low-budget cinema that deserves a watch by anyone who is a) a fan of folk music, b) a fan of cult cinema, and c) someone looking for something new to see but is tired of the bloated studio fare that is normally served up.

Probably my favorite horror movie of the year. Low budget, but that doesn't detract from the effectiveness of the FX. In fact, the sticky quality of the blood is a nice throwback to the 70s and 80s genre flicks we all love. Predictable on occasion, but surprising where it counts. I mean, young people going to a remote location in the woods to meet with a cult leader? I wonder what will happen? Still, the specifics are fresh and the vinyl record take on the necronomicon trope is kind of inspired. Only reason it's not a 10 is that at times it tries to be gratuitous for the sake of being gratuitous and I didn't find that those couple scenes stuck the landing. Overall, a spectacularly fun movie!