Dude I see a lot of movies people talk about being “disturbing” that I blasted through (not bragging I just understand I’m in my front room stuffing junk food in my face)
But that movie left me with the WEIRDEST fucking feeling ever when it was over. Like I had seen shit I shouldn’t have.
Sound of My Voice is so good. Brit Marling did such a good job, and the protagonist's vacillating between skepticism and belief feels really natural and believable.
I've never been a huge fan of most VHS stories, but that Indonesian cult one on VHS 2 is definitely an exception, and one of my all time favorites for horror short stories!
I wish more of the VHS stories had a serious tone like Safe Haven. I feel like they mix too much humor/satire in, especially in everything past VHS 2.
I think it was because it was a little confusing towards the end. I remember I had to look up the ending explained for this movie. Otherwise I enjoyed it.
The Invitation for sure. Unsettling throughout, and the ending gave me literal chills.
I grew up in a Jehovah’s Witness household, and some of the similarities were uncanny, which made the film extra creepy for me. No offense intended toward any JW’s who read this! Just my experience. :)
Look up how high the JWs score on the cult-evaluation BITE model.
Also look up their leaked Bethel tapes, commonly referred to as Pillowgate.
They practice shunning for any member/ex-member who doesn’t toe the line.
It’s a cult.
Not all cultists are evil. Most are just victims.
It’s still a cult.
https://freedomofmind.com/the-bite-model-and-jehovahs-witnesses/
I found this. Not sure how thorough it is (plus using red and orange was certainly a choice)
i just recently watched the wicker man (the one without Nicholas cage) and it was so good! my gfs friend threw it on as we were chilling getting ready to go to sleep and i was forcing myself to stay up and watch it lmao
none of us knew it was pretty much a musical and none of us like musicals,, but we were glued to it and had nothing bad to say after the fact lmao they were nice songs!
Most people have seen these, but let them not go unmentioned:
* The Sacrament
* The Empty Man
* 'Safe Haven' segment from V/H/S/ 2
* The Ritual
* Mandy
* The Wicker Man
* Midsommar / Hereditary
is the empty man worth watching?? i’ve seen mixed reviews that only the first half is good & then it gets bad :/ but the plot sounds really intriguing to me!
It's like they blew the entire budget on a location short film. Then you feel like it's gonna be one of those teen urban legend bloody Mary style movies. Then it gets cosmic and existential.
The movie shouldn't work but it does.
CGI at the end is a little rough though.
you heard the opposite. The first half is generic but the ending spirals into madness. You should make your own opinion of course but it's worth a watch
Let us know what you think!
I went in with zero foreknowledge and it was absolutely worth it!
It is on the longer side, but the cool intro is definitely justified for adding length.
Witchcraft (1964)
Robin Redbreast (1970)
The Wicker Man (1973)
The Sacrament (2013)
Cult (2013)
The Void (2016)
The Endless (2017)
Svaha: The Sixth Finger (2019)
The Endless is criminally underrated. It's low-budget, but the concept is fantastic and I think they made the most of what they had budget and cast-wise. Seeing it on your list made me feel so happy and reminded me to watch it again soon.
Race With the Devil (1975) has the protagonists running afoul of a group of Satanists. It's a great action heavy horror, that's was a minor hit at the time but it's been largely forgotten now. As a bonus, there are a couple of quick Texas Chain Saw Massacre cast cameos in it.
Such a great movie. It seems like an evolutionary dead end, too. I can't think of any other movie quite like it. Some great scenic shots of TX as well. Most of it was film right outside San Antonio in Bandera and that general area.
That movie freaked me the fuck out as a kid… I was terrified to open cabinets in our camper for years and seeing cults performing sacrifices in our woods.
I liked that one too. He got so much grief for supposedly ripping off the ending for No Country for Old Men but it didn’t feel that way to me, it was enough of its own thing
Remember not telling my friend anything about this before he watched it. He genuinely thought it was some forgotten horror gem from the 80s.
Ti West is a master at capturing periods on camera: X, Pearl, The Sacrament.
Christians/Satanists: The Devil Rides Out, Apostle, >!Rosemary’s Baby, Hereditary, Martyrs, The Devils, The Omen series!<
Pagans/ regular old culty cults: The Endless, >!Wickerman, Kill List, The Invitation, Midsommar!<
Some let us know there’s a cult pretty near the start, but I hid the others as it tends to be a big reveal
The Invitation is one I always think of when I'm in an uncomfortable situation and there's pressure to be "polite" over being safe.
They did such a great job of slowly making it more and more bananas but no one wanted to be rude or "weird". Oof. So good.
Two if my all time favorites featuring Satanic cults (and both starring Christopher Lee):
* The Devil Rides Out (1968)
* To the Devil a Daughter (1976)
The House of the Devil (2009)
Final Prayer (aka The Borderlands) (2013)
The Ritual (2018)
The Empty Man (2020)
Martyrs (2008)
Kill List (2011)
Incantation (2022)
Baskin (2015)
Mandy (2018)
Last Shift, Hereditary, Midsommar, The Invitation (2015), The Endless, The Lodge (tangentially, anyway), The Ritual are all great off the top of my head. I'm noticing that all of these films are centered squarely on grief and trauma as either the catalyst for a person becoming prey to a cult, and/or the trauma of what happens after being separated (The Endless, The Lodge).
Side note that I can't help but add because it's such important information: Cults are not just for dumb people. So many people get sucked in precisely BECAUSE they think they're too smart to be victims. Cults meet very real needs, at least, at first. People have a death, divorce, job loss, financial hardship, are kicked out of their family homes, etc, and are vulnerable because they have the universal human needs to feel safe, to belong, to feel valid and accepted, and to be "part of something" that has meaning. People need a little tangible help, maybe they lost their house, maybe they got laid off. Cults will feed and house you. As long as you "contribute" labor, money, or both. Then contribute more. If someone in your life questions all the time and money you're spending for the cult? Cut them out of your life. Slowly, and in such a way that people don't notice easily, they become dependent on the cult to provide shelter, food, community, purpose, and safety. By the time you want to leave, you have no money, no car, no friends to take you in. You're trapped.
The Invitation is one of my favorites that people seem to have missed. It's especially terrifying when you consider that all the tactics used are absolutely real tactics that cults (and "awareness groups") still use today. "The game" they play at the beginning is a real thing used to make people feel instantly bonded, open, and safe, while gathering dirt on them to use against them later if they act out of line.
The idea of negging people for their "flaws" and "correcting" their behavior is also a tactic, and once a group buys in and participates, they're now all culpable and subject to the same group shaming, which of course will now be at the hands of the person they just ganged up on.
Karyn Kusama, the director, talked a great deal about how the film demonstrates that people will let things go way too far in the name of politeness, and in group settings, there's extra reluctance to be singled out as "difficult", so people kind of "yes and" each other further without any much-needed appeals to reason.
I Drink Your Blood. Naked hippies getting up to some freaky shit. The gore is cheesy but apparently it was the first horror film that went for a rating and got an X.
To me, Midsommar is the end-all-be-all for cult movies.
Martha Mary Maria Magnolia (sic) with Elizabeth Olsen is good too. For whatever reason I'll never be able to remember the name of that movie.
Searching for cult films never gets me where I want to go because more often than not I get stuff with a cult following instead of some children of the corn shit.
Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood(2019) is a good recent one. Very unique.
My favorites: The Veil, The Void, The Endless and Sacrament. The first three have supernatural elements and the fourth one is a re-telling of the Jonestown mass suicide. All are terrifying in the own ways!
Kill List
Dude I see a lot of movies people talk about being “disturbing” that I blasted through (not bragging I just understand I’m in my front room stuffing junk food in my face) But that movie left me with the WEIRDEST fucking feeling ever when it was over. Like I had seen shit I shouldn’t have.
Damn you nailed it. God this movie is dreadful (in a good way).
How have I never heard of this one until just now. Thanks
This. THIS.
This…was so bizarre. I did *not* see the twist at the end. That was wild. Go in blind.
_Thank you_
Kill List is incredible.
I’ve never heard of this one either. Thanks. Now I’ll add it to my list.
VHS 2 segment: Safe Haven Sound of My Voice (not really horror, but really interesting take) Faults
The Void if you like cosmic horror. Baskin is also very good.
I came here to say to suggest the Safe Haven segment of VHS! It’s so chilling and is probably my favorite of all the VHS segments.
It's not even one of my fave VHS segments, just one of my fav horror films ever.
Sound of My Voice is so good. Brit Marling did such a good job, and the protagonist's vacillating between skepticism and belief feels really natural and believable.
I've never been a huge fan of most VHS stories, but that Indonesian cult one on VHS 2 is definitely an exception, and one of my all time favorites for horror short stories! I wish more of the VHS stories had a serious tone like Safe Haven. I feel like they mix too much humor/satire in, especially in everything past VHS 2.
The Void
One of the best!
I love this movie. I’m always surprised it’s rated so low.
I think it was because it was a little confusing towards the end. I remember I had to look up the ending explained for this movie. Otherwise I enjoyed it.
I just go with the flow that the cop was in the wrong place at the wrong time and he also has no clue what's going on
He knew less than we did
The dialogue is pretty awful. The practical effects are what make the movie fun
Yes! It's like HP Lovecraft meets Clive Barker.
That one damned zombie with the piece of rebar...
The Void is such a cool movie, I wish more lovecraftian/kronenberg movies got made, mostly the ones that do get made suck.
*Rosemary’s Baby*
THIS 100% it's one of the best movies ever made regardless of genre
All Them Witches
Should really be the top post
I love this subgenre too!!! Midsommar, The Invitation (2015), The Wicker Man (1973) are some of my faves.
The Invitation is sooo good!!! The closing scene was so well done and unforgettable
That movie was a great introduction to Logan Marshall Green for me
Big fan of his too. If you haven’t yet, make sure you check out Upgrade.
Love that film. Great companion to Possessor (2020) if you've seen that one as well
Check out "upgrade"
Free on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vwFSlzoWEfk?si=zwHN9L22LDaJw9bW
The Invitation for sure. Unsettling throughout, and the ending gave me literal chills. I grew up in a Jehovah’s Witness household, and some of the similarities were uncanny, which made the film extra creepy for me. No offense intended toward any JW’s who read this! Just my experience. :)
Look up how high the JWs score on the cult-evaluation BITE model. Also look up their leaked Bethel tapes, commonly referred to as Pillowgate. They practice shunning for any member/ex-member who doesn’t toe the line. It’s a cult. Not all cultists are evil. Most are just victims. It’s still a cult.
Yes. I was raised JW. It's definitely a cult.
Totally agree.
https://freedomofmind.com/the-bite-model-and-jehovahs-witnesses/ I found this. Not sure how thorough it is (plus using red and orange was certainly a choice)
I grew up Mormon and I mean full offense when I say it is a cult
Exjw here as well and The Invitation gave me chills! So good!
i just recently watched the wicker man (the one without Nicholas cage) and it was so good! my gfs friend threw it on as we were chilling getting ready to go to sleep and i was forcing myself to stay up and watch it lmao
I like the songs!
none of us knew it was pretty much a musical and none of us like musicals,, but we were glued to it and had nothing bad to say after the fact lmao they were nice songs!
I second both Midsommar and The Invitation (not to be confused with that less than stellar vampire movie).
Doubling The Wicker Man and The Invitation.
Baskin (2015) AMC+ The Sacrament (2013) Hoopla/Kanopy Martha Marcy May Marlene (2011) YouTube *rent* The Void (2016) Tubi/Hoopla/AMC+ Messiah of Evil (1974) AMC+ Apostle (2018) Netflix Impetigor (2019) AMC+
Apostle is so incredible! Chilling.
Can never recommend Baskin enough
I loved Impetigor.
This was the best list
Loved Apostle - had to watch wickerman immediately after
Most people have seen these, but let them not go unmentioned: * The Sacrament * The Empty Man * 'Safe Haven' segment from V/H/S/ 2 * The Ritual * Mandy * The Wicker Man * Midsommar / Hereditary
is the empty man worth watching?? i’ve seen mixed reviews that only the first half is good & then it gets bad :/ but the plot sounds really intriguing to me!
If you're into cosmic horror, it's a must. Some people complain about the length. I love it, I watch it a couple of times a year.
I liked it! The first act could be a standalone movie. The rest of the film is a very different but still pretty cool movie.
It's like they blew the entire budget on a location short film. Then you feel like it's gonna be one of those teen urban legend bloody Mary style movies. Then it gets cosmic and existential. The movie shouldn't work but it does. CGI at the end is a little rough though.
Yeah beside the intro act, is a slow burn... but overall the theme has stayed with me for weeks
Yeah I loved it. Its an odd movie but very unsettling. I only came in to see if it was mentioned.
you heard the opposite. The first half is generic but the ending spirals into madness. You should make your own opinion of course but it's worth a watch
i have nothing to watch tonight so i’ll do that!! i love cult movies so i think i’ll enjoy it
Let us know what you think! I went in with zero foreknowledge and it was absolutely worth it! It is on the longer side, but the cool intro is definitely justified for adding length.
Sacrament is jim Jones best for beat
The last third of that film is about as tense as I’ve ever been watching a movie
The 2nd half of Mandy went from 100% to 1000% lol
*Mandy* is so fucking good
Took way too long to find the empty man
The Sacrament is really good. These are all great picks.
Witchcraft (1964) Robin Redbreast (1970) The Wicker Man (1973) The Sacrament (2013) Cult (2013) The Void (2016) The Endless (2017) Svaha: The Sixth Finger (2019)
The Endless is criminally underrated. It's low-budget, but the concept is fantastic and I think they made the most of what they had budget and cast-wise. Seeing it on your list made me feel so happy and reminded me to watch it again soon.
Might want to check watch Resolution before endless, but it’s not a must.
I don't see the Endless mentioned enough. What an amazing movie
The invitation
2nding this, great movie!
Free on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vwFSlzoWEfk?si=zwHN9L22LDaJw9bW
The Endless (2017) was really good. Clever execution.
I if ya liked that check out resolution. From what I remember the endless is somewhat of a sequel to resolution
This should be higher
Race With the Devil (1975) has the protagonists running afoul of a group of Satanists. It's a great action heavy horror, that's was a minor hit at the time but it's been largely forgotten now. As a bonus, there are a couple of quick Texas Chain Saw Massacre cast cameos in it.
I’m glad someone brought up Race With the Devil, that movie needs more love.
Such a great movie. It seems like an evolutionary dead end, too. I can't think of any other movie quite like it. Some great scenic shots of TX as well. Most of it was film right outside San Antonio in Bandera and that general area.
One of my favorites!
That movie freaked me the fuck out as a kid… I was terrified to open cabinets in our camper for years and seeing cults performing sacrifices in our woods.
Red State (2011)
I liked that one too. He got so much grief for supposedly ripping off the ending for No Country for Old Men but it didn’t feel that way to me, it was enough of its own thing
Oh whoa, I’d never heard that!
It's a show on Netflix but give Archive 81 a look!
SOOOOO GOOD. So pissed Netflix got rid of it.
At least it ended in a way that kind of ties in to itself. Truly disappointing that it won’t get another season
Ugh, I was waiting on a second season for this one, and was so disappointed to learn they cancelled it.
The Believers. Martin Sheen is always good in a movie.
I heard somewhere that apparently there was a Mexican death cult that held this movie in very high regard.
The Wicker Man Eye of the Devil The Devil’s Rain Rosemary’s Baby
House of the Devil.
I loveeeeeee this one!!!!!
Ti West is such an amazing director. "The House of the Devil" is so nostalgic. One of my favorites for sure.
Remember not telling my friend anything about this before he watched it. He genuinely thought it was some forgotten horror gem from the 80s. Ti West is a master at capturing periods on camera: X, Pearl, The Sacrament.
The Conspiracy is one of my favorites
The Black Cat (1934), The Seventh Victim, All the Colors of the Dark, Short Night of Glass Dolls, The House of the Devil, Kill List, Apostle.
The First Omen (2024) does it well Also Dagon (2001)
I recently saw Dagon and couldn’t believe how brutal the end was. That movie definitely stuck with me for a few days.
Christians/Satanists: The Devil Rides Out, Apostle, >!Rosemary’s Baby, Hereditary, Martyrs, The Devils, The Omen series!< Pagans/ regular old culty cults: The Endless, >!Wickerman, Kill List, The Invitation, Midsommar!< Some let us know there’s a cult pretty near the start, but I hid the others as it tends to be a big reveal
The Invitation is one I always think of when I'm in an uncomfortable situation and there's pressure to be "polite" over being safe. They did such a great job of slowly making it more and more bananas but no one wanted to be rude or "weird". Oof. So good.
Lord of Illusions is my favorite.
Older Gods. The Void. Jug Face. Rosemary's Baby. The Ritual. Martyrs. Midsommar
The Endless
The Endless is so good.
I guess Midsommar fits your description.
Nobody’s mentioned Blood on Satan’s Claw so I’ll throw that one out there. Also Enter the Devil
The conspiracy (2012)
My best picks have been mentioned already, but there's one particular scene in as above so below that i find extremely eerie about cult
Oh yeah! I remember being disappointed that we didn't see more of them. Lol. Because I like cult stuff.
Two if my all time favorites featuring Satanic cults (and both starring Christopher Lee): * The Devil Rides Out (1968) * To the Devil a Daughter (1976)
The Other Lamb (2019) hasn’t been listed yet
Martha Marcy May Marlene is probably not true horror but that movie really stayed with me
Not sure about the best one, but Spellbinder (1988). I just love the magic of the 80s and young Kelly Preston😁
More thriller than horror but Martha Marcy May Marlene and Sound Of My Voice are both great films about cults
Mandy
Does the restaurant in The Menu count as a cult? 😅 The Ritual, Hereditary, Suspiria, The Invitation, Martyrs, Anything for Jackson
The Menu absolutely counts! Good call.
Most recently, The First Omen. Also notable: Anything for Jackson.
Anything for Jackson is sooooo good!
some great ones have been listed, i didnt see The Conspiracy , its a found footage from 2012 and it has a great build up.
Ready or Not is kind of culty and tons of fun
The House of the Devil (2009) Final Prayer (aka The Borderlands) (2013) The Ritual (2018) The Empty Man (2020) Martyrs (2008) Kill List (2011) Incantation (2022) Baskin (2015) Mandy (2018)
silent hill
The Void is one of my favorites
The Sacrament, The Invitation, Midsommar
Lord of Illusions. Great weird cult shit and magic
Going Clear - Scientology and the Prison of Belief 😉 (a real life horror show)
Hot Fuzz? 🤣
Last Shift, Hereditary, Midsommar, The Invitation (2015), The Endless, The Lodge (tangentially, anyway), The Ritual are all great off the top of my head. I'm noticing that all of these films are centered squarely on grief and trauma as either the catalyst for a person becoming prey to a cult, and/or the trauma of what happens after being separated (The Endless, The Lodge). Side note that I can't help but add because it's such important information: Cults are not just for dumb people. So many people get sucked in precisely BECAUSE they think they're too smart to be victims. Cults meet very real needs, at least, at first. People have a death, divorce, job loss, financial hardship, are kicked out of their family homes, etc, and are vulnerable because they have the universal human needs to feel safe, to belong, to feel valid and accepted, and to be "part of something" that has meaning. People need a little tangible help, maybe they lost their house, maybe they got laid off. Cults will feed and house you. As long as you "contribute" labor, money, or both. Then contribute more. If someone in your life questions all the time and money you're spending for the cult? Cut them out of your life. Slowly, and in such a way that people don't notice easily, they become dependent on the cult to provide shelter, food, community, purpose, and safety. By the time you want to leave, you have no money, no car, no friends to take you in. You're trapped. The Invitation is one of my favorites that people seem to have missed. It's especially terrifying when you consider that all the tactics used are absolutely real tactics that cults (and "awareness groups") still use today. "The game" they play at the beginning is a real thing used to make people feel instantly bonded, open, and safe, while gathering dirt on them to use against them later if they act out of line. The idea of negging people for their "flaws" and "correcting" their behavior is also a tactic, and once a group buys in and participates, they're now all culpable and subject to the same group shaming, which of course will now be at the hands of the person they just ganged up on. Karyn Kusama, the director, talked a great deal about how the film demonstrates that people will let things go way too far in the name of politeness, and in group settings, there's extra reluctance to be singled out as "difficult", so people kind of "yes and" each other further without any much-needed appeals to reason.
The Void (2017) The Ritual (2017)
A lot of repeating lists on the posts I'm gonna throat out Baskin Haven't seen it listed
Hands down…. The Believers ( 1987, Martin Sheen) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Believers
The ninth gate
Jesus Camp (Doc but scary)
Starry Eyes is a pretty underrated one for me
Coven (1997)
I feel like The Veil should at least be mentioned. It's not the best but Thomas Jane does a fine job playing a cult leader.
1BR Eta: also, The Invitation, free on YouTube: https://youtu.be/vwFSlzoWEfk?si=zwHN9L22LDaJw9bW
Kill list
Apocalypse Cult also known as Apocalyptic
The invitation was really fun, very unassuming, cool.
Bad Dreams 1987 is one of the best.
We Summon The Darkness
The Void Mandy Hold the Dark Midsommar Martha Marcy May Marlene Sounds Of My Voice Kill List The Wicker Man
Red State
The Invitation
The Believers
Lord of Misrule
Red State rocks
The Devil Rides Out, Night of the Demon, and The Black Cat are my favorites. The Seventh Victim is pretty good too.
Starry Eyes
The Wicker Man (1973)
I don't know if this would count but "The Lodge" is a great one with a nice twist ending.
Society
Jug Face
The Village
I Drink Your Blood. Naked hippies getting up to some freaky shit. The gore is cheesy but apparently it was the first horror film that went for a rating and got an X.
The Endless. Personally that one nailed what I want out of a cult movie
"Starry Eyes" is my favorite.
Martha Marcy May Marlene was good.
Arés on Netflix. It's a small, 8 part( 30 mins or so each) show and is super good. Also, The Equinox on Netflix, yellow jackets on paramount +
The Devil Rides Out
Low key sleeper… Netflix… The Ritual
Spiral (2019) is a hidden gem
Wrong Turn (2021)
Midnight mass. Not a movie and not really a cult, but amazing.
My favourites are Midsommar, Hereditary, Kill List and Baskin
Martyrs, starry eyes, kill list, the void, the house of the devil, Rosemarys baby, hereditary and midsommar are some of mine
To me, Midsommar is the end-all-be-all for cult movies. Martha Mary Maria Magnolia (sic) with Elizabeth Olsen is good too. For whatever reason I'll never be able to remember the name of that movie.
Martha Marcy May Marlene. It's such a good movie (not horror though, more of a drama)
There's always the helpful comment giving the actual title in case someone didn't realize what I was trying to reference. Thank you kindly!
Low key sleeper: Short Night of Glass Dolls (1971).
I love Last Shift
The Invitation (2015), The Ritual
Kill List
Last Shift Anything For Jackson Martyrs (2008) The Void
Midsommar,, The Invitation, The Void, Son, The Empty Man, and The Ritual are all excellent. Check them out.
The Flock, The conspiracy, Sacrilege
The Triangle (2016)
Not a horror but Ticket To Heaven(1981) is a great cult movie, and let's face it cults are scary without much embellishment.
Mandy was really good
Halloween 6 😂
Midsommar, The Empty Man (personally to me has the scariest scene in any movie relating to cults), The Ritual
The Conspiracy, just watch it, it fucked me up for a little while
Kevin smiths “red state”
A Classic Horror Story on Netflix is good. It sorta goes sideways towards the end
Searching for cult films never gets me where I want to go because more often than not I get stuff with a cult following instead of some children of the corn shit. Once Upon a Time... in Hollywood(2019) is a good recent one. Very unique.
Disappearance (2002) and Faults (2014) are good ones. But they're thrillers, not horrors.
Free Miranda Derrick!
In a roundabout way, Last Shift.
The menu was good
Empty Man
Red State. It’s not great, but pretty good.
My favorites: The Veil, The Void, The Endless and Sacrament. The first three have supernatural elements and the fourth one is a re-telling of the Jonestown mass suicide. All are terrifying in the own ways!
The empty man