Kali (Patricia Fishman) is a young woman who comes to Buenos Aires looking for work at a shady employment agency. Before the interview is even over, she is drugged and kidnapped by the proprietors. She soon wakes to discover she is being held captive by a mysterious cult leader who will pimp her out to rich clients who belong to “the fellowship”. Eventually, Kali finds herself impregnated by the leader, which complicates her relationship with the employees.
The cult leader is a rather cool customer. For a long time, it’s hard to tell if it’s a real guy or just a mannequin who is wearing a Satanic robe and a mask that makes him look like the Aztec Mummy. Heck, he still remains an unsettling presence even after you know the score.
The Sect is a no-frills, low budget, Argentinian horror flick that works more often than not. It’s not as exploitative as you might think given the subject matter as the nudity is brief and tastefully done. (Fishman is filmed mostly from the back or from over the shoulder whenever she disrobes.) Even though he was working with a low budget, director Ernesto Aguilar was able to make a slow burn type of horror film without making the audience wait forever for the resolution. I will say that the ending is the weakest part of the whole thing, mostly because it’s kind of vague and unsatisfying. However, Aguilar does quite a lot with his limited resources, and it’s pretty remarkable that it holds up as long as it does… until it doesn’t.
In short, there’s nothing revolutionary here, but The Sect is reasonably effective and better than you’d probably expect. It’s short (sixty-nine minutes) and wastes no time getting down to business, which is always appreciated. It’s also surprisingly stylish in some stretches as the scenes that are bathed in pink and purple light almost feel like an Italian giallo. While I can’t wholeheartedly recommend it due to the disappointing ending, it remains a solid little chiller all in all.
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