From very early on the picture will sometimes pause so the camera can zoom in, showing us something subtle in the background that's supposed to be spooky. Only, it's often so subtle that at best we won't see it until it's heavily emphasized, and at worst, there's nothing to be seen at all. Oops! Elsewhere, when events are progressing normally, the tone is so flat, and the incidence of an actor's movement or a "supernatural" happening so forthright, that the artificiality of it all is laid bare in the moment - or perhaps one may be inclined to wonder if this wasn't actually intended to be a parody all along. Further feeding into the latter point, some examples accompanied by a "gasp!" (or, you know, intended to be) are just information imparted through dialogue with a similarly flat tone; some plot development curiously operates in the same manner. Moreover, where visuals are added in post-production in what is ostensibly a "found footage" flick, the usage is often so gauchely, obviously false that one has to ponder how this could have been released while looking so bad.
I've watched a few of Shiraishi Koji's films. I thought 'Noroi,' his major film debut, was possibly one of the best horror films I've ever seen; on the opposite end of the spectrum, 'Teketeke 2' was just rubbish, and I fully turned off 'Groteseque' after just a few minutes (something I never, ever do except under highly atypical circumstances). I sat to watch 2013's 'Cult' with mixed expectations, and boy howdy, it is not good. Good grief, the character "Neo" is basically just an unrealistic, caricatured manga character conceived as a "real person," and for as dubious as the picture was from the outset, the writing really seems to go downhill when they enter the story about halfway through. Some beats are altogether senseless, as they rely on the total incompetence of supposed professionals: key locations in-universe are shown to be set up with cameras, but over the course of many days no one is apparently checking footage. I feel bad for the cast, because they very pointedly do not come off well. I feel bad for the effects artists, who presumably had the skill to do better, but were seemingly denied the opportunity to do better with the computer-generated imagery that presents; as it is, the phrase "they didn't even try" might best describe the CGI.
There are good ideas here, sure, in (most of) the narrative and scene writing. Maybe not so much in the characterizations, least of all in the initial conceit of actresses hired to join a "paranormal investigation" program, and it's unfortunate that the whole is so meager and flimsy, including a terribly clunky back end where plot is dispensed like rocks forced through a paper straw. I like the thoughts that went into Haishima Kuniaki's score, though the music itself is underwhelming and questionably mixed. I like the notions underlying the CGI, but I'm inclined to think that even had the digital rendering been given a chance to be ideally realized, the same notions could have been better visualized with practical effects and camera tricks. Earnest intent went into these eighty-four minutes - but not, regrettably, earnest care. What potential the feature had is never given a real chance to flourish, and all things considered, there was never much potential to begin with. I don't know what happened to Shirashi after crafting the incredible 'Noroi' eight years before, but this stumbles significantly in entirely too many ways, and pretty much right from the start.
It's still true that there are far worse movies in the world. 'Cult' is so limp and unconvincing, however, that for the level on which it operates, the distinction is all but meaningless. I guess I'm glad for those who get more out of this than I do, but I can't imagine ever giving it as a recommendation. Alas.
