Fantasia International Film Festival (FIFF) – Cult Hero is one of the few horror-comedy features screening as part of the 2022 Fantasia International Film Festival. Directed, co-written, and starring Jesse T. Cook, Cult Hero took me by surprise with its obnoxiously lovable characters, its comically dark exploration of the nightmares of suburban life, and of course, its unexpectedly successful heroization of a “Karen”-like character. What Cult Hero was missing with tension and horror, it made up for it with laughter and gore and left me wanting more.

After a case ends in him accidentally causing a mass suicide, Cult Investigator Dale Domazar (Ry Barrett) also sees the death of his career. One day, a suburban real estate agent named Kallie Jones (Liv Collins) leaves a cryptic voice message claiming that her husband is being held against his will by a cult, begging Dale to save her husband and burn the cult to the ground. Dale finds that the cult is indeed sinister, indoctrinating unsuspecting and susceptible men to give themselves up as a sacrifice for the benefit of the cult leader, Master Jagori (Tony Burgess). In order to save her husband, Kallie and Dale team up to implement a rescue, by any means necessary.

Cult Hero is a comedy that has a bit of an anachronist aesthetic, one that plays up the “suburban life” aspect of the story, showing the mid-life crisis often experienced after the monotony of everyday work-life and an unhappy marriage crushes one’s soul. Cult Hero felt something like American Beauty being turned into a horror-comedy, as the wife seemed to be a Flanderized version of the American Beauty wife, and the husband went on a similar personal journey of rediscovery, only he found himself through overcoming the suffocating grip of his wife and a cult.

Liv Collins’ performance as the wife, Kallie Jones, carried this film from beginning to end. Collins successfully captured the essence of a “Karen” without becoming too unlikable, and her character arch from once obnoxious, harping, overbearing wife to supportive badass heroine was both funny and exciting to behold. The combination of over-the-top characters coupled with writer/director/co-star Jesse T. Cook’s quirky directing style made for a uniquely comedic experience that was a breath of fresh laughs out of the otherwise serious and cerebral 2022 Fantasia lineup.

Liv Collins was a great scream-queen “Karen” and stole every scene, which is saying a lot, considering her co-characters were cult leaders and washed-up cult investigators. Cult Hero is definitely silly and is likely something only the un-snobby could stomach watching, but they will be rewarded with line after line of funny dialogue and perfectly timed dark comedy.

6.75 out of 10