The Coven

I have been on the look out for a good cult film for months, and this seemed right up my alley. For the first half of the film, it actually looked like it was going to scratch that itch. But then the cliches started to pile so high that it was like watching one of the many cult films I've already seen, almost verbatim. "Chosen one", "bring about the end", "you are vessel for yadda, yadda".... the same tired lines that have used in countless other movies can be found almost word for word in this one. Ever felt like you were experiencing deja vu while watching a movie, as if you've seen it before? Get ready to feel it with this film. Over and over.

The sad part is, this movie had everything going for it; a decently talented cast, a great (if cliched) premise, a tight script and some beautiful backdrops coupled with some great cinematography. So what went so horribly wrong?!? How could a movie that had all of the elements required to make a good movie fail so spectacularly? It didn't work as a horror film in the broadest sense of the term, and it certainly doesn't work as part of the "Cult/Death Cult/Demonic cult" sub-genre, so who was this film aiming to please? It wouldn't make even the passing horror fan happy so you can imagine how this is going to fare with actual genre hounds.

Overall, this movie is unfortunate. It could have done something interesting, unique or even relatively clever with what it was presenting and instead chose to do what so many other similar films have done. I guess filmmaking is like cooking; even with all of the proper ingredients, if you don't know how to properly utilize them, you can end up with an inedible mess. This film is that mess.

Let's get right to it - this is a bad movie. The story is nearly nonexistent and what is there is the most generic, uninspired cult plot imaginable. The two leads would have made fine side characters in a slasher who get killed off, but they just aren't the type of character who can lead a movie like this. The male lead provides a solid portrayal of the obnoxious rich jockbro archetype, whose purpose is to simply be fodder...but that type of character has no knowledge or skills to lend to this type of story and feels awkward when left in for too long. Scout Taylor-Compton basically reprises her role as Angel Meyers from Rob Zombie's Halloween - a character who is the child of an unspeakable evil that spends most of her time screaming hysterically. However, in The Long Night she is just a forgettable shell of a character and is barely given anything to say or do, despite being the lead. Nothing of any significance happens so I'll leave it at that in terms of the "story".

That said, there were a lot of genuinely great visuals here. The cult looked excellent and there were a number of appealing shots of the cult doing cult things, such as igniting the giant unicursal hexagram symbol on the lawn. This movie seems to take significant influence from 70s cult/psychedelic horror, and the atmosphere was well done. Even though it lacked a lot of aspects necessary for a good movie, many scenes had a strong music video feel and would have worked extremely well in that context. As a movie it completely fails, but if distilled it could have made a great short folk horror film based exclusively around the strength of the visuals & aesthetic without needing to try to incorporate a story.

"The Coven" or also known as "The Long Night" is a movie with a predictable and sometimes silly script, but it has a couple of interesting moments within its cult and satanism theme. The great achievement of the film is its cinematography which is atmospheric and offers some gloomy and other very beautiful visuals, making the most of its filming locations. The performances of Scout Taylor-Compton, Nolan Gerard Funk and Jeff Fahey are decent without being outstanding. The soundtrack is an interesting point, sometimes it is good but in some scenes it does not fit with the image that is shown, resulting out of place. A soulless and boring movie at times, but not as bad as its reputation says.

I pretty much agree with 'Wormsoftheerth's review. He/She hit it right on, so I'll point you to that review for more details.

I will say that with the genuinely powerful visuals and soundtrack, at the beginning I was really hoping for a lot here, but as others have said, there just simply was not enough 'Story', and I honestly feel that they really lost any focus at all by the last 30 minutes. I think the IDEA itself is fine, although it has certainly been done many times before, but especially when you start a movie off this strongly, you absolutely HAVE to be able to ratchet up the tension as you go along, building to an effective ending, and unfortunately that just does not happen here.

I will say that the director is most definitely very strongly influenced by Stanley Kubrick, no doubt about it, even right down to the scene titles. Long, epic panning camera movements. Long, moody shots. Even some of the Space/Embryo imagery towards the end. Again, TONS of atmosphere which I really like and I feel is one of the most important elements in a good Horror film. But, you HAVE to build to something, and this just kind of whimpers out. Be sure to check out the review I mention above because I very much agree with pretty much all of this person's observations.

I think that if the filmmakers had just spent as much time on an effective development of the actual story as they did on the look, mood, and atmosphere, they really would have had something here. And, it is always great to see the excellent Jeff Fahey! Although I would guess that it probably didn't take much more than a day to shoot his scenes.

So, ultimately, especially after about the first hour, pretty disappointing. I gave it a '5' which was higher than the current 3.x that ones have rated it. Mainly giving a little extra credit for the fantastic look, sound, and feel of the movie. I would suggest that if you happen to like really atmospheric, moody Folk/Horror movies, just watch the first half, and when it begins to falter, go do something else 😁

This fell like a throwback to the Satanic Cult movies of the 70s. Some good creepy scenes and some awesome costumes, twists and turns. Awesome spooky fun.