By the time the late 90’s had rolled around, I was obsessed with horror. I had exhausted everything American, and I had begun to dabble in Italian horror. One of my first loves was the Demons series. After watching the first 2, imagine my surprise when I hopped on eBay and found out there were 4 more! We had Demons 3: The Ogre, Demons 3: The Church (wait, what?), Demons IV: The Sect, and Demons 5: La Maschera del Demonio. Well, those pesky Italians were always so confusing with their labeling of unrelated films.
32 years later, I acquired The Sect on Blu-ray, by now having realized it had no connection to the Demons series, and felt it was time to revisit it. Long gone is my bootleg VHS. Can I appreciate the Soavi directed film in my middle age? I didn’t in my youth, but was that due to its misleading connection to my favorite Italian horror series? Let’s find out.
Synopsis:
A lonely kindergarten teacher discovers a secret well in the basement of her house, and soon finds herself being followed by a murderous Satanic cult.
IMDb: 6.1
Rotten Tomatoes: 60%
Tagline: Satan has chosen his victims. The battle with evil has begun.
La Setta, aka The Devil’s Daughter, aka Demons IV: The Sect, aka The Sect, is a 1991 Italian horror film written and produced by Dario Argento and directed by Michele Soavi. Soavi, a long since retired actor, had appeared in so many classics including Demons, The New York Ripper, Absurd, and City of the Living Dead. He has worked with Argento, Fulci, Bava, and Terry Gilliam in numerous roles. But it was directing that he’s primarily known for now, having directed many films including Stage Fright, The Church, and Cemetary Man.
Not too many named actors appeared in the film, surprising for the talent behind the camera, however one genre vet did star in it. The late Giovani Lombardo Radice of Cannibal Apocalypse, Cannibal Ferox, House on the Edge of the Park, City of the Living Dead, and so many more classic films, stars as Martin Romero, a play on the name George Romero, with whom Argento had just worked with on Two Evil Eyes.
Kelly Curtis plays the lead character, Miriam, and while her name is not a household name, her sister Jamie Lee Curtis, has done pretty well for herself in showbiz.
I like Michele Soavi as an actor, but I have yet to see a film of his that I truly love as much as the other Italian directors of the time. He lacks the style of Argento. The gore of Fulci. The terror of Bava. He just settles into the what-the-fuckery that is the Italian genre but brings nothing special to the table.
I felt confused, lost, bored, all throughout the film, and can’t imagine a time that I might watch it again. The Scorpion release is beautiful, and it really looks like it was released in modern times despite being 30+ years old, but that simply isn’t enough. The weirdness just doesn’t pay off, despite how it tries to constantly up the level of bat shittery.
