Split Image

I just saw this for the first time and it was very striking how similar the cult seemed to the one in Midsommar. Perhaps these depictions are common cult tropes, or perhaps this obscure film had more impact than one would expect.

This movie starts off pretty strong but stumbles in the third act in multiple ways.

James Woods' character is pretty funny and perhaps it's worth watching the film just to see it. But this character seems to not belong to this movie's really.

The deprogramming scenes-- well, they're very interesting, but I'm left wondering how realistically depicted this is. My gut feeling is it's only very slightly based on real deprogrammings.

The film is severely marred by the Holywood Ending, where the two main brainwashed kids run away from the cult hand in hand, and conveniently, despite extraordinary earlier efforts by the cult to recapture the boy, suddenly the cult doesn't seem to care. It's a record scratching moment.

Also, before that, and by themselves, that boy and girl discuss their old names and lives before joining the cult. This is extremely problematic, because it makes it look like they aren't "brainwashed" at all, and are perfectly aware of what they are doing. And if they are, then they are adults making decisions, and the later capture and deprogramming of the boy is, in fact, kidnapping and torture. It also means he shouldn't have had hallucinations during "deprogramming."