With distrust in institutions and economic uncertainty the new norm, it wouldn’t surprise me if we see a wave of cult-centric horror movies. In that sense, The Observance feels timely. The creepy bunny mask-wearing cult members not only kill, but they prey on their members’ insecurities, be it economic anxiety or even masculinity. While the film has some pacing issues, it’s certainly a feature for the moment.
Kate Dailey stars as Madison. She owns a massive farm and plot of land that a group called “the observance” wants to purchase to build a new temple and to house their growing membership. However, Madison doesn’t want to sell, despite her family’s economic hardships. Her husband, Gabriel (Patrick Harney), doesn’t have a full-time job and instead takes on freelance writing gigs from time to time. Within the opening ten minutes, the film does a good job underscoring the family’s financial strain and the pressure put upon Madison to sell the massive plot of land. Still, she won’t budge, even though she constantly yells at Gabriel to get a real job because she’s exhausted from pulling more weight than he does.
After Gabriel and Madison argue and he misses a major event she wanted him to attend, an 18-wheeler rams into Madison’s vehicle on her way to said event. Five years later, she wakes up from a coma to an entirely different world. Gabriel let the observance take over the land and the house. Their leader, Jonah (Alec James), poisoned Gabriel and their daughter, Nia (Darby Cappillino), turning them against Madison by worming his way into their minds. James is one of the film’s strong suits. Though he constantly speaks in a calm voice, he plays one unsettling and effective villain. He manages to find a character’s weakness and really tap into it, including Gabriel’s insecurities pertaining to masculinity.
The cast is rounded out by Ted Raimi and Ashley Terpstra. They play agents who do indeed want to help Madison unravel and undo the observance, but they also understand the cult’s power. Helping Madison does indeed create severe and even deadly risks.
The film isn’t without a few brutal kills, but it does struggle with the pacing. In short, there are sequences that just feel a bit bloated and long. The purpose of the cult also doesn’t quite make sense. Sure, they feed on people’s economic and various other insecurities, but so does every other cult. At one point, they’re described as anti-Biblical, in that they don’t believe in the Holy Trinity and see Jesus as only a high prophet, not the son of God. However, it’s never quite clear what they actually believe in, even though Jonah keeps referencing a master figure. Yet, despite some of the flimsy and half-baked explanations, that doesn’t stop the cult from murdering.
The Observance is a decent cult horror film, but one that struggles with pacing and fully fleshing out some of its ideas. That said, the film contains enough positives to warrant a watch. The feature also feels timely in its exploration of how a cult feeds on broader anxieties to recruit members, especially in an age where it seems like everyone distrusts traditional institutions.
