"The Sect," also released as "The Devil's Daughter" in the U.S., follows an American schoolteacher in Frankfurt who crosses paths with a mysterious elderly man. Little does she know, he is not as innocent as he seems, and their chance encounter sets in motion the plot of a group of Satanic ritual killers who plan to use her for a very important occasion.Comparisons of this film have been made over and over again to "Rosemary's Baby," though I think that's a bit unfair to both films; it's no doubt an influence, but "The Sect" is far weirder and considerably less well-plotted (and the truth of the matter is that only the last ten minutes even remotely resemble Polanski's epic). Directed by Argento protege Michele Soavi, "The Sect" is as entertaining as it is absurd. The plot is shoddily strung-together, borrowing heavily instead from Argento's "Three Mothers" trilogy. Incoherence comes with the territory of Italian horror by and large, and "The Sect" is no different; plotholes abound and the real motives and nuances of the Satanic cult remain incredibly vague, which is a major pitfall.That said, in all of its unintentional ambiguity, the film is hinged on several key moments that are quite memorable and well-executed, one of which involves a completely demented operating room sequence. The demonic angle underpins all of this, but is again underdeveloped, and the finale is clunky as it doesn't really manage to bring the audience to any sense of resolution or awareness of what they've just witnessed. Kelly Curtis (first daughter of Janet Leigh, sister of Jamie Lee) is hit-and-miss here, though the overdubbing makes it difficult to really gauge her performance. Herbert Lom makes an appearance as the elderly henchman who sets the entire plot into motion and is a welcome presence. All in all, "The Sect" is an entertaining mess of ideas. It has all the cornerstones of a good Satanic horror flick: A mysterious cult, inexplicable supernatural phenomena, possession, conspiracy, and ancient beetles-but there is not really a thread running through any of these things to make for a sturdy film. That aside, I do find it incredibly entertaining in all its weirdness, and there are a few hallucinogenic sequences that are well-executed. Standout moment: The sequence in which Curtis's posessed colleague propositions for sex at a truck stop, and everything that follows. 6/10.

Michele Soavi's The Sect concerns that network of Satan as they prepare the way for the Antichrist. From a commune being slaughtered in the early 1970's - a scene with references to the Rolling Stones that repeat throughout the film - to multiple modern murders that follow, including a heart being left on a train and a suicide in public, the devil's helpers are organized, know how to plan and are well ahead of the rest of society.In modern Germany, schoolteacher Miriam Kreisl (Kelly Curtis, sister of Jamie Leigh) saves Moebius Kelly (Herbert Lom, Hammer's The Phantom of the Opera) after an accident and brings him back to her house. Within a few hours, he's injecting her and shoving beetles up her nose while she sleeps and giving her nightmares of a giant bird having sex with her.From there, the film descends into more of a series of nightmares than a fixed narrative. That makes sense once you realize that its origins in three different scripts that producer Dario Argento, director Michele Soavi and writer Gianni Romoli couldn't finish. So you're left with a film with a giant glowing blue gateway to Hell in the basement, a plot to conceive the Antichrist much like Rosemary's Baby, an evil Shroud of Turin that can kill and bring people back from the dead and, oh yeah, a super smart rabbit named Rabbit who can use a TV remote.The Sect has some references to other films, with the first victim being named Marion Crane (Psycho) and another named Martin Romero (obviously, George Romero and his Braddock vampire film Martin).Following Soavi's Stage Fright and The Church, this film offers less of the pure insanity that he'd bring to bear in his next film (and sadly, final horror film) Cemetery Man. Yet a restrained Soavi is still more visually inventive than a hundred lesser directors. From images of animal-masked children to the evil Jesus that smokes up and annihilates hippies in the flashback, there's a continual undercurrent of menace and doom.Strange symbols just appear. People disappear even after we see them arrive. Or they die in airplane accidents and still appear. Kathryn (Mariangela Giordano, Evelyn from Burial Ground, she of the incestual zombie child relationship) shows up to get smothered by the previously mentioned evil shroud. Faces get ripped clean off. Worms show up in the water. A possessed Kathryn convinces a trucker to kill her. Rabbit symbolism abounds. Kathryn gets back up off the operating table and attacks Miriam before killing herself again, which a doctor tries to explain as a commonplace thing. Long black tunnels lead to a sinister mortuary. The doctor who couldn't save Kathryn and Damon, the Jesus-like killer from the opening, are working together. A woman's face is ripped clean off, Hellraiser-style. Even trusted detective Frank is taken over and wants to kill Kathryn now that he knows her secret. Whew. I hope these short bursts of words give you an idea of just how much happens in this movie. It never really lets up, becoming more and more unreal.Moebius comes back to life to tell Miriam that every moment of her life has been planned, that they own her, that everything has been for this moment indescribable joy. The cult gathers as the doctor injects her, sending her to sleep.Finally, the devil comes to take Miriam. In shadow form, he appears to be human, but what attacks her is a giant bird that pecks at her neck and has his way with her. The cult lowers her into a pit as Moebius raves, screaming that he is her father and that she will give birth to the Antichrist. As she waits in the blue basement water, midwives swim around her, facilitating the birth as the moon slowly goes dark.A giant amniotic sac with a child inside is lifted as the moon goes completely black.In a shot straight out of Rosemary's Baby, Miriam moves through the crowd to see what Moebius refers to as their "revenge against God." He offers her the chance to raise the child.Cut to her kneeling, beatific in white, as she stares into the blue waters of the well below. The doctor attempts to be tender to her, but Miriam tosses her down the pit. She makes her way to the rest of the cult and accepts her child, running with it as a motorcyclist chases her and crashes, creating a giant wall of fire.Moebius screams that they are ger family now. Miriam kneels into the flames of the crashed motorcycle and sacrifices herself to destroy the baby and Moebius.Fire crews put out the bodies as we see their charred remains wash away - except Miriam is still alive under all of the ash. An eagle circles the sky as Miriam believes that her son saved her.The Sect is crazy, but it still doesn't feel as strange as The Church or Stage Fright. Yet again, when compared to any other film, it's odd as hell. It flies by, a mix of imagery and ideas that takes you on a whirling dervish of a ride. It's hard to find - Shameless put out a UK only DVD this year - but there are plenty of not so legal ways to find a copy. I'd recommend that you do so.

Well this is not and usual terror film like other Hollywood movies. M. Soavi, director of another excellent movies like Dellamorte Dellamore or La Chiesa, takes you to a strange world where the evil surrounds Miriam, a lonely girl who is the victim of a sect, she is the person who must brings the devil to the earth. Visually, the film is incredible, genial camera angles, excellent colours and sounds management that makes you enter the story. There is also a reference to La Chiesa, the hole at Miriam's house, is the door to the evil, like the hole at the church of La Chiesa. Strongly recommended in order to see a different terror from Hollywood

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!