THE SECT (1991)
Everyone wants Italian weirdo Michele Soavi to return to the horror genre. It doesn't look like that's going to happen anytime soon. And look, I get it. I love Cemetery Man, too. But I must admit, the dude's batting average is rather pedestrian. I've officially seen all four of his fright flicks, and from where I'm sitting, he has crafted one masterpiece. One. Stagefright is fun, but would it be worth recommending without the owl mask? Maybe I'm being hard on Soavi. Or maybe I'm frazzled because I just watched The Sect, his third stab at it coming off the heels of 1989's The Church. He seems to have a fixation with women being ravaged by "manimals." Here, Kelly Curtis (Jamie Lee's sister) is raped and pillaged by a phantom stork. If I had it my way, that would be the synopsis on the back of every physical release of The Sect. Too abrasive? Or too honest? Hmm, I'm on the verge of a psychological breakthrough. Let's see what happens in the next paragraph.
A woman is victimized by a doomsday cult after nursing a senior citizen back to health. A million things happen, including the underwater birth of the Antichrist. I probably don't need to tell you, but be ready for non-linear storytelling. And that's fine and dandy. Your movie can be a morass of oddball symbolism and random (!) bursts of violence. I only ask that you make the characters palatable, and that's where The Sect falls short. Miriam (a.k.a. Not Jamie) has to be the dumbest heroine I've encountered in Italian horror. That's saying something, folks. I wanted to dig this insanity. Herbert Lom does turn in a convincing performance as an enigmatic drifter, but I can't say that I cared about him. At all. Visually, The Sect is often gripping. Once it grips you, it slaps you and walks in the opposite direction. I guess some people are into that? I gave it my best shot.
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