Review: Pater Noster and the Mission of Light (2024)
Directed by: Christopher Bickel
Starring: Adara Starr, Morgan Shaley Renew, Joshua R. Outzen
Written by: Christopher Bickel
Music by: Christopher Bickel
Country: United States
Not currently available on physical media
IMDb
Christopher Bickel, indie hardcore mic-destroyer turned indie hardcore film-destroyer, has followed up his drug-imbued road trip of female carnage, Bad Girls, with Pater Noster and the Mission of Light, a drug-imbued foray into the world of murderous hippie cults. The eponymous cult is a group of free spirits who were on the forefront of scientific thought and folk music — the usual interests of hallucinogenic indulgers of the hippie era. Once one of their exceedingly rare LPs shows up in a local record store run by Sam (Morgan Shaley Renew), Max (Adara Starr), and Gretchen (Shelby Lois Guinn), Max goes full obsessive in tracking down the rest of their esoteric discography. Her snooping leads to the cult establishing contact and inviting her and her friends (along with fellow cult-loving blackened thrash musician Jay Sin (Joshua Outzen)) out to Wunderlawn, their remote compound.
As with Bickel’s previous films, Pater Noster wears its grindhouse, punk influences right on its robed sleeves, leveraging vibes borrowed from flicks of hippie horror’s past like I Drink Your Blood and Let’s Scare Jessica to Death, and maybe even a little bit of something modern and metal like Mandy. Bickel once again takes arty-farty high-brow indie in one hand and exploitative low-brow trash in the other and smacks them together repeatedly until it’s a bloody, heady mush of fuck-yeah-let’s-go cinematic gusto. Scenes of philosophical rumination on the evils of Christian faux morality, the virtues of altered consciousness, and the societal implications of gerontology sit affectionately alongside repeated brutal stabbings and disembowelments, deformed monster fetuses, and gynecological procedures conceived with the most ill of intents. All of this is gussied up with some very funny commentary on indie snobbery and toxic fandom.
One might hope Pater Noster would have had a few more surprises in its stash box, because events unfold in a pretty predictable way, with characters acting in mostly predictable ways, and the cult’s ulterior motives not made especially ulterior or unique. Given Bickel’s background in his local Columbia, SC hardcore scene, it would have been a treat for the film to have focused more on Pater Noster the band, and the genesis/progression of their musical career and how that came to shape their mission, but, alas, this light-infused mission is not fleshed out much more than is required to establish geriatric menace. Additionally, a climactic appearance of an otherworldly being makes you long for additional supernatural elements. Regardless, Pater Noster does deliver on many fronts, and demonstrates substantive development in nearly every facet of production, making this the filmmaker’s most polished work yet, even if it has less of the gonzo charm of The Theta Girl or the freneticism of Bad Girls.
The movie is a culmination of Bickel’s obvious love of locally fostered music and includes several moments of adoration for record store culture and an appreciation of on-screen live tunes that’s threaded its way through all three of his films. In fact, the pieces of psychedelic folk by “Pater Noster and the Mission of Light” are all original songs written and recorded specifically for the movie. Bickel also includes a message of support for local record stores in the end credits, along with dozens of logos from stores across the country. The final words left to the viewer are “This movie was shot for the price of a used car in West Columbia, South Carolina. Thank you for watching underground movies. Ignore ‘the industry’ (music, movie, or otherwise). Make art with your friends. This movie is dedicated to punk rock.” Fuck yeah! Let’s go! It’s obvious, as it has been in the past, that Mr. Bickel finds exquisite joy in his ardent mayhem and it’s the best sort of contagion.
Overall rating: 8 out of 10
