'Cult of Blood': A film that scares with truth, but not with horror
Director Adrian Chiarella's Australian horror film explores the trauma of conversion therapy, reframing it as a story of exorcism. While the concept is strong and original, successfully exposing the horrors of such practices, the film ultimately falls short as a horror movie because it fails to deliver genuine scares.
Film critics, as seen in the Rotten Tomatoes rating, are raving about 'Cult of Blood'. Viewers, as the IMDb score indicates, are less connected. This is quite fitting for an Australian horror film that possesses a great core idea and plenty of original thought, yet the viewing experience falls significantly short of the analysis it invites.
Naeem (Joe Bird) is a teenager who, after his father's death, moves with his mother to a town in the state of Victoria. This is a devout evangelical environment, and after a romance develops between Naeem and a local boy named Ryan (Stacey Clausen), we discover that this community supports conversion therapy. The premise becomes both horrifying and interesting because these treatments are actually a religious practice of exorcism—and they work, in a sense. Gays and lesbians do not undergo conversion, but they discover that their passion has become a threat to their lives. A mystical force, appearing exactly like the person they are attracted to—a force invisible to the rest of the world—does everything to kill them.
In the original, the film is titled 'Leviticus', referencing the Book of Leviticus, which refers twice to male intercourse: once as an 'abomination' and the second time with the command that 'they shall surely be put to death'. Director Adrian Chiarella, a gay man who grew up in Australian religious communities with zero tolerance for what they perceive as an abomination, uses religious symbols to present a pitch-black aspect of the Christian faith. He does not dismiss this faith as nonsense; on the contrary, he shows that it possesses actual biblical power. It may not succeed in exorcising demons, but it certainly knows how to summon them.
However, in cinema, the question is not only what idea you conceived but what you did with it. Here, Chiarella disappoints twice: as a screenwriter, he goes nowhere interesting, leaving the film stuck around its starting point; as a director, he fails to scare, which is a major problem for a horror film. Joe Bird does a successful job, and Mia Wasikowska is convincing as a mother blinded by the double curtain of loss and fanaticism.
To the credit of 'Cult of Blood', it succeeds in its most important mission: exposing the horror of conversion therapy. In this sense, it is a successful drama and a rather mediocre horror film. Australia has become a fascinating producer of horror in the last two decades, with films like 'The Babadook', 'Relic', and 'Talk to Me'. This is a local tradition that knows how to counter Hollywood genre clichés, and in this respect, 'Cult of Blood' is an honorable member of the list.
