Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Great Film overall

While it doesn't offer any answers, it both thrills and makes you think.

The movie's not perfect, but it sticks the landing of its message. It was engaging - thrilling at times - and I personally thought it was a great time.

I really didn't know too much going into this, a rather unknown film that is infrequently discussed. To my surprise, I found this to be a resonating and haunting experience that boasted great cinematography and acting. A young girl named Martha escapes an abusive cult and returns to her family. As a result of a brainwashed mind, she suffers from delusions and paranoia to which she must attempt to restore her mentality before she loses it entirely. When the word "cult" is sprung into a description, you automatically think witches or vampires where they commence blood rituals and sacrificing lambs. In actual fact, cults are more common than you might think. In this story, the cult manipulated women into thinking they are vital aspects to a "family" but are deceived into being sexually abused. The screenplay downplays the ideologies of this goal, not for political aspirations, but to create an experiential visceral depiction of abuse. Some of the scenes are not pleasant to watch, I would go as far as saying the whole narrative makes you feel uneasy. The spiky relationship between Martha and Lucy was just as edgy as the cult flashbacks. The chronological shifts embed the two together, however the film isn't intelligent enough to utilise this method and deliver a good payoff. It seemed forced. Elizabeth Olsen's lead debut was a poignant one, she was mesmerising and captured the fragility of Martha beautifully. Sarah Paulson also caught my interest, another understated performance from her. The cinematography was hypnotising and the confident one take scenes felt bold and really enhanced the experience. Any emotional gauge or connection just didn't exist unfortunately, I wanted to empathise with the characters but a cold barrier was preventing me from doing so. The ending, as ambiguous as it was, again felt rather cold and unfinished. A captivating story, just not an emotionally powerful one.

If you like psychological films with no resolution this is for you.Our protagonist leaves a cult – and proceeds to live with (or more precisely - live off ) her sister and husband. There are unresolved issues between her and the older sister. They can never get to the point in their confrontations. Only once the sisters' husband asks if she will look for employment – but this issue is abandoned too. The film is interspersed with flashbacks to the cult she joined. I will admit that it is well acted which is the reason for the 4 stars.MAJOR SPOILERWhat was the point of showing the cult breaking-in and committing a murder - and no real resolution to this either? The cult was not violent-prone up until this stage. This was just cinematic titillation.

What hell it must be, to be a hot girl when there's no one to take care of you. Particularly if you find your way into a cultish group on a farm where people seem to have taken leave of their common sense. They have group sex, produce boy-children indiscriminately, and occasionally kill living creatures, animal and human, with no associated emotion. The titular heroine, being a beauteous hottie, is ruthlessly shagged by all the men until her loins must ache and her mind is bending. At last she escapes, and one of the fellows who has been having her, finds her in the local town, lazily snacking on hotcakes. He then leaves her there, and she manages to call her long-lost sister, who drives three hours to fetch her. This is where she starts to become defined as mad, because of her misfit behaviour (swimming nude, joining her sister in bed while her sister is getting noisily shafted). Finally, in a fit, she kicks her brother- in-law down the stairs and tells her sister she would make a lousy mother. The couple decide to take her into town with them and get her treatment. At the end, as they are driving into town, someone seems to take over the car, and she sees the cult leader's big black SUV behind her. End: yes, we are abandoned by the film-maker as the action is just about to start, and we realise we have been watching the preliminaries only, not the real film. I'd like to see Elizabeth Olsen again, it's so nice when a talented actress also has breasts, (as any reader of my reviews will know). She carries this film, but it's a heavy load. Not recommended.

Martha (Elizabeth Olsen) escapes from an abusive male-dominated communal cult where she lived as Marcy May. Her sister Lucy (Sarah Paulson) eagerly takes her in. Lucy is married to Ted (Hugh Dancy). She has difficulties reintegrating into the world despite her sister's efforts. The movie flashes back occasionally to her time with the charismatic leader Patrick (John Hawkes).It was my first time seeing Elizabeth Olsen act and it was quite a good surprise. Other than being the younger sister to the twins, I wasn't really expecting to see this mature performance. The story has very disturbing sections with her in the cult. It's uncomfortable which a good indie sometimes becomes. It does need to be more consistent with its intensity. It's a bit too slow in a few places.