I am just going on the record as saying cults freak me the f*** out. I always flash back to the scene from POLTERGEIST II when the cult is stuck underground and Reverend Kane will not let them leave. Still creeps me out to this day.
But cults provide excellent material for thrillers. Last year’s MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE used a cult to create a genuinely unsettling movie experience. Now we have SOUND OF MY VOICE, another Sundance success story. Here is the trailer.
SOUND OF MY VOICE was co-written by Brit Marling, writer and star of last year’s surreal and apocalyptic ANOTHER EARTH. While I found ANOTHER EARTH slow and underwhelming, the trailer for this one caught my attention. The prospect of going undercover to investigate a cult and then being sucked into it beyond the point of no return is a genuinely scary idea.
Fox Searchlight will be releasing the indie thriller in just about a month and they have made the first twelve minutes of the film available online.
The entire indoctrination sequence made my skin crawl. At first, you want to laugh at the ridiculous handshake and introduction that they go through. But, when cult leader Maggie (Brit Marling) begins her speech, I can genuinely see how someone could get suckered into believing she really is from the year 2054.
SOUND OF MY VOICE opens April 27, 2012