WasAnnon Slow pace in the most part of the movie.

TeenzTen An action-packed slog

Cleveronix A different way of telling a story

StyleSk8r At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.

jadavix "La Setta", or "The Sect", is that most unfortunate type of film, the kind with a collection of good moments but no discernable thread to string them all together. The result is a movie so boring that when a memorable scene happens, you probably won't be paying attention.The plot has something, loosely, to do with the titular sect of devil worshippers, who appear to be based on the Manson family, at least in the movie's prologue. They kill a bunch of hippies in 1970, while a song from 1972 plays on the soundtrack. They also look shaggy and unkempt.Then the movie switches to present day, and a kindergarten teacher almost runs over an old man, played by legendary German actor Herbert Lom. Of course, the meeting is really no accident, he's involved in the sect, and as with so many horror movies about evil cults, our protagonist is involved with the sect too, she just doesn't realise it. She's the essential ingredient the cultists need to make the devil come back or whatever.If you think that last bit was a spoiler, the English-language distributors apparently disagree with you: they give it away in the film's title on those shores: "The Devil's Daughter".You've seen it all before anyway, and done better: "The Wicker Man" also featured a religious cult in which the unsuspecting hero was the vital ingredient the cult needed for their evil plan. So did a little-seen, (but much better than "The Sect") Dutch movie called "The Family". "Rosemary's Baby", anyone? Maybe even "The Omen" films, in which the protagonist was indeed evil, but didn't know it at first.It's been done before, and done better, and you've seen it at least a few times.I said the movie has memorable moments but no interesting plot to tie them together. I think what it really has is moments that could be memorable in a better movie, but here, are not. I'm at a loss to explain how this movie was directed by Michele Soavi, who made the superb "Cemetery Man" next. Perhaps it was the influence of Argento co-writing the screenplay that made this one so confusing and dull.Not to mention overlong. Who the hell thought a trite devil-worshipper movie needed to be almost two hours?

lonchaney20 This is basically another take on the Rosemary's Baby scenario, but done in that inimitably weird Italian style. By this point Michele Soavi is beginning to find his own voice, and we can see him drifting apart from his controlling mentor/producer, Dario Argento. Things get off to a bad start with a ludicrous prologue in which some Satanic bikers slaughter a bunch of hippies. So far so good, except for the gang leader's ridiculous tendency to quote The Rolling Stones, talking about how their music is full of profound knowledge understood only by the chosen few. It's completely stupid, but it was a necessary sacrifice; Soavi and his co-writer (Gianni Romoli) allowed Argento to write the opening scene himself to ensure that he'd leave the rest of the movie alone. This is hilariously acknowledged in the movie itself, when at one point the head of the titular sect (a creepily subdued performance by Herbert Lom) picks up a music magazine in the protagonist's apartment and, with the air of a man who now knows better, reminisces about how deep the Stones' music was considered in the seventies.Anyway, like Soavi's other films this is brimming with nightmarish imagery (I love the burial shroud that flits in and out of the narrative) and mysterious symbolism, but it hasn't aged quite as well. The cinematography of Raffaele Mertes is serviceable during the film's moodier sections, but most of the time it feels a bit flat. The same can be said of Pino Donaggio's soundtrack, whose unimaginative synthesizer beats and drones were unfortunately endemic in the nineties. Since this is a Soavi film, though, it's still well above average and certainly never boring - he takes a derivative story and spices it up with bizarre images, stylized scenes of violence, a large helping of symbolism (much of it related to fertility), and even a pinch of Lovecraft. The ending is a point of contention for some, but I think it's both gutsy and surprisingly moving. This is perhaps Soavi's least successful horror film, but here we can already see him experimenting with images and ideas that will be perfected in his next project, Dellamorte Dellamore.

Snake-666 After nearly running over an ageing man (Herbert Lom), Miriam (Kelly Curtis), feeling responsible, offers the old man a place to stay for a short while. However, this innocent invitation triggers a series of events that would change her life forever.'The Sect' is at once an enthralling, mesmerising and stylish offering from Michele Soavi, the protégé of writer and producer, Dario Argento. Blending several styles of horror, Soavi's own unique presentation of the subject matter succeeds almost in entirety at being haunting, atmospheric and compelling. While one can see the influence of his mentor, Soavi is daring enough to put forth his own, unique brand of directorial style and flair to give 'The Sect' a distinctive appearance that sets it aside from many similar works of the era. His respect for the story and viewer is clear for all to see, never once opting for a style-over-substance approach, instead offering the stylistic elements as an accompaniment to what is already a considerably impressive film. The slow-pacing is an advantage to the film rather than a detriment and is unequivocally intentional. Soavi's methodical approach to storytelling allows him to not only develop his central character, but to gradually increase the tension in a way that does not feel forced and thus makes the climax all that more meaningful. Surrealism, unsettling visual elements and intriguing POV shots are all used to add to the atmosphere but never to become the main focal point. Above all, the keys to the grandeur of 'The Sect' are subtlety and mystery; everything else is but a bonus.To say that 'The Sect' is without flaws would unfortunately be inaccurate. However, the flaws are particularly minor in the scale of things and the negative effects of these lapses are virtually negligible. While great care has quite obviously been taken to ensure that the storyline remains rational, there are a couple of instances where illogical behaviour and actions are briefly noticeable. As mentioned, these have very little negative effect on the overall film but their use as plot devices is questionable to an extent. It is also worth pondering whether on occasion Soavi went into too much detail perpetuating the tension of certain sequences and disregarded the actual climax of the scenes? For the most part, Soavi took full advantage of the script, presenting an array of memorably shocking and surprising scenes, yet once or twice, the 'money shot' was lacking in the impact that one had come to expect and had a rather unsatisfying short-term effect. Despite these instances, it is worth considering that 'The Sect' managed to almost wholly steer clear of becoming predictable, almost as if Soavi and Argento could predict themselves how an audience would react and what they could expect.For those who doubt that modern Italian cinema is capable of producing innovative and enthralling horror, free of the paper-thin plots and unnecessarily excessive gore that has scarred so many other genre productions, 'The Sect' is the film that can prove otherwise. An occult horror/thriller full of twists and turns, shocks and surprises, surrealism, nightmarish dream sequences, symbolism, mystery and style, 'The Sect' is a film that only uses a bare minimum of special effects and instead acts almost as homage to the suspenseful horrors of yesteryear, such as 'Psycho' (1960), 'The Innocents' (1961) and 'Rosemary's Baby' (1968). Almost a pure work of art, 'The Sect' is Soavi staking a claim as possibly one of the best directors of the modern era. My rating for 'The Sect' – 8/10.

gridoon As a director, Dario Argento may very well be a master of the horror genre. But as a screenwriter, he has already proved that, more often than not, he doesn't have a clue. The script he has co-written for "The Sect" is so awful that I am inclined to believe there wasn't any script to begin with - they were probably making it up as they went along. The movie is simply a series of disconnected scenes that were thrown together in the vain hope that they would form some sort of "plot". The result is a torturous piece of schlock that bored me to tears. This one should get 0 out of 4 stars, but I'll change it to 0.5 for the cool "face ripping" scene, and for the fun of seeing an aging Giovani Lombardo Radice in a minor role, ten years after "Cannibal Ferox". Still, it apparently has its fans so you may want to check it out for yourself....