Cult Girls

What a great joy it was to watch this film. The director Mark Bakaitas has a great visual style and it shows wondefully well in this film. Fantastic mesmerising performance by Jane Badler. All the main performances were also great. A great indy Aussie film.

It is difficult to determine what this movie is supposed to be about, as it is a mess. The cult is the Golden Path, and they are seeking beautiful girls who are untainted by Christianity, as those become the most powerful in their pagan world. There are three young girls who escape, and as they escape, one vows they will always be together. So the movie becomes a documentary search for the cult leaders? Or is it one woman's desire to unite with her sister? Or is it a lot of things thrown together to make it more mysterious? There is some nice cinematography of old gothic churches, interesting forest scenes, but a lot of muddled scenes thrown in also. There are rituals, hideous masks worn by the men kidnapping the women to give it a more medieval vibe. But in many ways it only serves to become boring.

The music is so loud and overbearing -- prominently by chants -- that, without a subtitles option (of which there isn't one) it makes it extremely difficult to hear what the characters are actually saying (the monk (?) just sounds as though he's mumbling ... and the other characters / actors, you can't tell what they're saying at all. I turned the film off barely five minutes in due to this issue.

The key "inconsistency" is also that the opening statement claims that the events tak place in "Europe in the 13th century ... the last place to be Christianisized" (not even a real word): but takes place in "Terra Australis" (ok ...), and where -- for the 13th century -- obviously white people (of which there weren't any) had electronic lamps and school halls ...There is no contradiction to this supposition, and the film never states differences / otherwise.

Honestly: don't watch this (ahem) "horror"

Pros: Nice scenery and aerial shots, the chants sound great, few locations are recognisable, nudity, costume design and theme. Cons: It's a mess. You could cut it up into 20 minute sections and rearrange them in any order to produce a similar outcome. It's impossible to spoil this movie because I'm not sure what happened. Something about sisters in a cult I think.

Cult Girls: A Pagan Apocalyptic Cult in Australia led by a woman who believes she is the reincarnation of a Goddess. They believe that they will rule the Earth after civilization collapses due to climate change etc. They practice human sacrifice and one night they are raided by the police. One sister Dalia, is rescued but two others are taken by the Cult leadership who escape. Fifteen years later Dalia is still seeking her sisters she sees a tv show about a Black Metal guru/hermit who uses the same Rune as her cult. She attends a Black metal gig and meets a metalhead who helps her on her quest. Some really good imagery and horror, though most of the violence is suggested or happens off camera. Nevertheless apostates to the Cult are burned alive, people are shot and stabbed. The acting is uneven though and the narrative can be difficult to follow at times. A few plot twists as well as some of the action switches to Lithuania. If you're into Apocalyptic Cults then you might like this horror flick. Written & Directed by Mark Bakaitis. 5/10.