Review: The Sect (1991)

(aka La Setta, The Devil’s Daughter, Demons 4)
Directed by: Michele Soavi
Starring: Kelly Curtis, Herbert Lom, Tomas Arana
Written by: Dario Argento, Michele Soavi, Gianni Romoli
Music by: Pino Donaggio
Country: Italy
Available on: Blu-ray (Scorpion Releasing)
IMDb

The Sect is Italian director Michele Soavi’s follow-up to The Church, continuing his examination of the insanity of religious people. Miriam is a schoolteacher in Germany who has a chance run-in with a strange old man who turns out to harbor some stranger secrets, involving a cult, the antichrist, and a cult obsessed with ensuring Miriam gives birth to the antichrist. The story isn’t anything that dozens of other horror films haven’t done before — or one that Rosemary’s Baby did fairly exactly — but as usual, Soavi does it with some style.

This is another Soavi collaboration with Dario Argento, though it’s perhaps the least influenced by him. Certainly, it’s the most straightforward of Soavi’s horror output at this point in his career. Compared to The Church, which was essentially an exercise in staging provocative set pieces, The Sect is way more plot-driven, which is to its detriment because, as noted before, its plot ain’t nothin’ special. Here and there, there are the macabre flourishes we’ve grown accustomed to, such as a shockingly visceral act near the end, an impressive immolation scene, and many of the exceedingly portentous locations. Watching this, I realized how much I take for granted that filmmakers prior to the 21st century had to actually find these fucking magical places or build them from scratch from timber, bricks, nails, paint, and shit. They couldn’t just throw the actors in front of a green blanket and let the Geek Squad do the rest.

In many respects, The Sect doesn’t feel like it was made by the same dude who did Stage Fright, The Church, and Cemetery Man. It feels oddly American in its construction, its lack of humor, its (relative) attachment to reality, and its muted tone. There’s a distinct dearth of ridiculous overacting, bombast, and ghastly outbursts (outside of the previously mentioned shocker). Despite the movie’s less Italian flavor, the score by Pino Donaggio (who typically excels at the standard American orchestral horror score) slants way more European. It’s a rock- and electronic-influenced melange that doesn’t at all resemble the type of icy, grandiose stuff you’ve come to expect from his collaborations with the likes of Brian De Palma or Joe Dante. Honestly, it kind of sounds like B-side from Claudio Simonetti’s stuff on Demons (1985).

All of this is to say that The Sect is … fine. Once it was over, I thought something along the lines of, “That was a movie that I did not find burdensome to finish.” But it was also a movie that took me four days to write about because I couldn’t immediately think of anything to say, thanks to the burden of my ambivalence. This is a modestly eerie flick that teeters but doesn’t ever fully descend into dullness, but feels remarkably restrained and predictable — adjectives not typically associated with Italian horror. Thankfully, The Sect is in no way a sign of what was to come with Soavi’s next film, Cemetery Man (aka Dellamorte Dellamore), one of the greatest and most unique horror movies ever created.

Overall rating: 6 out of 10