Writer/Director Ti West is back with a POV found footage type of thing that is loosely inspired by the Jim Jones suicide cult---where back in the 70's, a large group of people drank poisoned Kool Aid under the influence of a dark religious leader that encouraged them to do so (for a heavenly reward, I might add). This story follows a documentary crew, visiting the sister of a crew member, who has joined up with an isolated commune of fake smiling religious folks in the middle of nowhere. They have given their life savings to a strange, charismatic leader nicknamed "Father" (played well by Gene Jones) in exchange for peace, happiness, being closer to God, and away from all the troubles of the "real world"- things like lust, greed, prejudice, etc. Of course, all is not what it seems and as the documentary filmmakers begin to interview folks, it's apparent many of them are being held there against their will. They want out! When Father finds out that the TV folks are going to expose his evil, he convinces most everyone to "drink the poisoned Kool-Aid" in a harrowing scene, where women and babies are included. This movie really kept my interest, had good pacing, decent acting, an eerie score by Tyler Bates, and even though it didn't tread any new ground on the subject, it delivered what was promised: kind of an in-the-trenches view of what it must be like to be part of a weird cult like this. So in this regard, the movie works quite well, despite some uneven acting and the usual "why or how are they still videoing things" that this sub-genre always has. Presented by Eli Roth, he was one of the producers.
Writer/Director Ti West is back with a POV found footage type of thing that is loosely inspired by the Jim Jones suicide cult---where back in the 70's, a large group of people drank poisoned Kool Aid under the influence of a dark religious leader that encouraged them to do so (for a heavenly reward, I might add). This story follows a documentary crew, visiting the sister of a crew member, who has joined up with an isolated commune of fake smiling religious folks in the middle of nowhere. They have given their life savings to a strange, charismatic leader nicknamed "Father" (played well by Gene Jones) in exchange for peace, happiness, being closer to God, and away from all the troubles of the "real world"- things like lust, greed, prejudice, etc. Of course, all is not what it seems and as the documentary filmmakers begin to interview folks, it's apparent many of them are being held there against their will. They want out! When Father finds out that the TV folks are going to expose his evil, he convinces most everyone to "drink the poisoned Kool-Aid" in a harrowing scene, where women and babies are included. This movie really kept my interest, had good pacing, decent acting, an eerie score by Tyler Bates, and even though it didn't tread any new ground on the subject, it delivered what was promised: kind of an in-the-trenches view of what it must be like to be part of a weird cult like this. So in this regard, the movie works quite well, despite some uneven acting and the usual "why or how are they still videoing things" that this sub-genre always has. Presented by Eli Roth, he was one of the producers.
