I Joined a Cult

This movie was a blast to watch. The cast delivered a truly compelling ensemble performance, spearheaded by a powerful female lead who brilliantly portrays a complicated, flawed, and layered character you can't take your eyes off.

While watching, I found myself reminded of performers like Jamie Lee Curtis, Toni Collette, Bruce Campbell, and Mia Farrow-all of whom made early career credits in the low-fi horror genre. I'm eager to see what comes next for this cast and these filmmakers, and I don't doubt that it will also be a pleasure to watch.

If you only like the MCU, bloated remakes, or movies starring The Rock and Sydney Sweeney, skip it. However, if you enjoy cults, found footage, and getting an early front-row view of budding careers, Prime it now.

"I Joined a Cult" is an indie found footage film with heart - it delivers a compelling mix of tension, emotion, and raw authenticity. The standout is the lead's phenomenal performance, bringing depth to themes of faith, religion, and mental health.

The cult's allure feels disturbingly real, thanks to the magnetic, unsettling leader. The found footage style immerses you in every uneasy moment, though the pacing drags slightly at times. While the film won't wow you with it's production value, the concepts presented in the story, the acting, and its thoughtful exploration of vulnerability and belief makes it a worthwhile watch for fans of the horror and found footage genres.

As a horror aficionado you gotta appreciate when the low budget films give it their all and offer something unique. The main character is going through an internal struggle that manifests outwardly and we get a front row seat in her bipolar rollercoaster of emotions through what might be termed a "religious experience". The length clocks in on the shorter side at a svelte 70-something minutes, but it seems to fit the story they're trying to tell. There are some parts of the story I would have liked to see clarified or resolved better, but overall it hit the spot and it was nice to see a found footage horror film, you don't see enough of them get made these days.

The story is interesting and the script isn't bad. The main hidden cameras, that are shown in the trailer so I dont consider mentioning them a spoiler, are mostly clever- but would still be noticed by anyone not walking around with their eyes permanently stuck to their phone. The main actress does a good job when speaking / acting like a journalist in the beginning, that was also in the trailer, but the rest of the time her acting is as bad as most everyone else's- all of whose acting is so bad that it almost ruined the movie for me completely. The good points, that I had already mentioned, were the sole reasons I gave a 2 star rating. I would only recommend this movie to die-hard fans of the Found Footage Film genre who simply want to watch it for the hidden camera shots and to add another title watched to their lists. Though, there are very questionable scenes that are shot by the "hidden cameras" but are showing what the character sees. I hate when filmmakers do things like that in the Found Footage Film genre because it absolutely kills the "Could this be real" feel of the movie- which for me is the point of the genre.

I like films about cults and other than documentaries they are usually low budget and not so good which is why this was a nice find. After watching the trailer, I decided that the film makers had at least done some research on how cults work. It was different in that the cult found their purpose was to speak with the dead, but it worked. I think it mainly worked because of the solid performances which I find rare in low budget films, but this was very watchable. I wonder what they could have done with a bigger budget. As per the usual I had to suspend belief a time or two, but it all worked and was fun.