hyped garbage

A Masterpiece!

I wanted to like it more than I actually did... But much of the humor totally escaped me and I walked out only mildly impressed.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

A woman is chosen to bear the son of Satan by a cult headed by a mysterious old traveller.I find it pretty unfortunate to say the least that Michele Soavi last made a horror film way back in 1994. Unlike most of his Italian peers he seems to have bowed out on a high. With this film along with Stagefright, The Church and Cemetery Man, Soavi has a pretty impressive body of work. He was the premier Italian horror director from the period 1987-94. I can't say definitively why he never returned to the genre but needless to say he is a great loss.Similar to his earlier movie The Church, The Sect was also produced and co-written by Dario Argento. Soavi was something of a protégé of the great man. This one shows the influence pretty clearly once again. It has stylish direction and inventive cinematography. It also benefits from a good score from Pino Donaggio. So its overall look and feel is pretty good, while it has some well-conceived locations such as the tree and the well. Soavi really comes into his element with the dream sequence and cult ceremony scenes. The dream sequence in particular is a bravura display of cinematic technique. It's surreal, weird and very memorable. It's the highlight of the movie for sure.It has a decent enough cast that includes Herbert Lom as the mysterious old traveller, cult favourite Giovanni Lombardo Radice as the man who is chased in the underground with the human heart, while Jamie Lee-Curtis's sister Kelly leads the picture in the role of the teacher. It's by no means a faultless film; in fact it's probably the least good of Soavi's quartet of movies. It's probably a bit over long while its ending did seem very rushed and a bit unsatisfying. Nevertheless, it remains one of the very last good Italian horror films and like all Soavi films, is well worth catching.

By chance, this was on TV tonight and I had been looking everywhere to find this one, so I was glad to finally see it. That being said, I feel as though my expectations were a bit too high on this one. It's not as if the film is bad, which it ain't, but I feel I was expecting another "Suspiria" or "Inferno" which, a few similarities aside, are quite different from this one. Still, there are some truly powerful images that sticked in my head after watching it and the first dream sequence was just brilliant. The acting was pretty good also, with Kelly Curtis coming off as a likable protagonist alongside the great Hebert Lom giving an eerie performance as one of the villains. There's also a fine script that, though owes a lot to "Rosemary's Baby", came out as fresh and quite unique really, and not the carbon copy one might expect. The cinematography is also spellbinding, and as in his previous (and in my opinion slightly superior) "The Church", Michele Soavi proves to be a visual artist on the same level as Dario Argento. The film's flaws come mostly from the strong made-for-TV feel and a rather cheesy score from Pinno Donagio, as well as some rather unintentionally funny moments here and there (easily overcomed by the claustrophobic, nightmarish atmosphere). Overall, a quite decent obscure chiller that deserves more attention than it gets. I only wish I could like it more myself, as it's one of the last great Italian horror movies of the past twenty years or so. Hopefully, repeated viewings will make me appreciate it more, because it surely got potential. 7/10

You can always count on an inventive and intriguing movie when it comes to anything that Argento has touched, and this Argento-scripted film is just that! The great director has left the directorial duties up to his protégé; Michele Soavi for this movie, and that is somewhat ironic because The Sect easily tops anything that Argento himself directed in the 1990's. Michele Soavi looked pretty promising up until 1994 when he released the astonishing 'Dellamorte Dellamore', and then promptly disappeared off the horror radar. It's a massive shame that the man, up until now, hasn't followed up on his four horror films; as I, and many other horror fans (I'm sure), would agree that if he'd added a few more films to his oeuvre; he could be right up there with the master himself. The plot for this film follows a young woman who almost knocks a man down while driving in her car. She then takes the man home, but due to the events that transpire; it quickly becomes obvious that she didn't take him home purely by chance...As soon as the movie opens, with America's "Horse With No Name", and then a character quoting lyrics from The Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil", you just know that you're going to be in for a great ride; and the rest of the film doesn't disappoint! Soavi succeeds in creating a fabulously foreboding atmosphere throughout the movie, and his direction isn't bad either. The locations are great; the underwater labyrinth underneath the house at the centre of the movie, which echoes Inferno, being the very best in that department! Soavi excels at direction, and this only reinforces my point about the massive shame it is that he hasn't followed up on Dellamorte Dellamore. His camera angles are superb and he really knows how to build tension and suspense! Herbert Lom is the pick of the cast, and the classic horror actor delivers an excellent hammy performance and every moment he's on screen is a delight. The film definitely does have problems, however; the fact that it's about twenty minutes overlong is one of them, and the rather silly ending is another - but on the whole, this is an excellent exhibition of horror and comes with a high recommendation from yours truly!

Even more bizarre than Michele Soavi's other films, including "Dellamorte Dellamore" and "the Church". It barely contains a resemblance of a plot, but it's definitely entertaining. Some scenes are very creepy, others are downright laughable. Example: One scene has a woman getting her face torn off by Satanists, another has a rabbit watching television and using the remote control. Why??? Oh well, it doesn't matter, I still love this movie. Not as good as "Dellamorte Dellamore" but far superior to "The Church", and probably "Stage Fright". Check it out if you're in the mood for something really weird.