Fresh off the heels of their excellent Blu-ray release of The Church (read my review), Shameless Films is back with another one from director Michele Soavi with a brand-new Blu-ray release of The Sect. And just like that release The Sect is a must-own for Italian genre fans.

The Sect, also known as The Devil’s Daughter, opens up in the 70’s with a group of hippies hanging out somewhere in the middle of the desert. It’s a bit reminiscent of a similar scene in Easy Rider. This group of hippies is more like a large family – there’s a pretty good mixture of kids and adults – and they appear to either leave out in the desert or they possibly act as nomads, constantly on the move, setting up camp wherever feels appropriate. As they’re all hanging out having a good time a Jesus-like figure stumbles upon their little campsite. And by Jesus-like I mean it’s a dude who looks like Jesus is often portrayed – long hair, big beard, basically wearing a robe of sorts.

This Jesus-like man is fascinating. There’s something about him that seems just a bit off, but I mean hey, it’s the 70’s so how can you eve tell? With a cold, dead look on his face he begins to talk about the importance of the Rolling Stones. “Their music’s only for a few. If you’re into their songs then you know there’s something profound about them. An awareness that goes beyond.” Word.

Jesus then gets high. When night falls and the hippies fall asleep he slaughters them all. Probably because of something he heard in a Rolling Stones song possessed him to do so.

Flash forward to modern day Germany, in this case 1991. An old man (Herbert Lom) is on some a bus and begins to freak out. The bus pulls over and he gets out and walks into the road where he is almost hit by an oncoming car driven by a schoolteacher named Miriam (Kelly Curtis). In a panic Miriam gets out of the car and checks on the old man, offering to take him to the hospital.

On the drive to the hospital Miriam gets to know the old man a little bit. Turns out his name is Moebius and he’d prefer not to go to the hospital. He says he’s fine and just needs some rest. Miriam, feeling responsible for almost killing him, offers up her couch for him to rest on and the two skip on the hospital and go straight to her place.

Soon strange things start to happen and it becomes clear that Miriam’s meeting with Moebius was more than a chance encounter. Miriam was chosen for something, something sinister beyond belief.

Like other entries into the Italian world of horror, The Sect doesn’t always make sense. The gist of the story is apparent – Miriam is chosen to give birth to the son of Satan. But there are a number of things that happen during the build up that aren’t ever explained entirely. Like the opening sequence of the film that takes place in the 70’s. We know that’s some sort of Satanic ritual, but it  doesn’t really seem related to our main story, other than the fact that it involves Satan. If you’re a fan of Italian horror this is all acceptable because it just sort of goes with the territory. Where The Sect stumbles in clear story telling it more than makes up for with a moody atmosphere and striking cinematography.

The highlight of the film is Kelly Curtis who gives a standout performance. She’s the older sister of Jamie Lee and has comparable acting chops. She does a fine job carrying the movie. For whatever reason her performance in The Sect is just one a of a few films she’s played in over the years and I believe her only starring role. I assume she just didn’t take to acting the way her sister did but if The Sect is any indication she could have had a very successful career had she chosen to do so.

Just like their release of The Church, this new Blu-ray from Shameless for The Sect looks wonderful. It’s the first 2k HD release of The Sect and it brings to life the film’s wonderful and bold colors. It’s also the longest version of the film released to date coming in 117 minutes, providing audiences with a cut that is entirely faithful to Soavi’s original version. While I certainly appreciate this and always want the director’s vision to be released, the film does run a little long. This is no fault to Shameless of course, they did the right thing, but Soavi could have trimmed the fat just a tad. There are some moments that drag and cutting 15-20 minutes out could have drastically changed the film’s impact.

As far as special features Shameless has once again reeled in Soavi for a brand-new interview and it’s an absolutely treat. Soavi is one of those directors that you always want to listen to talk. He has so much passion and it comes out not only when he’s talking about his work, but when he talks about what influences him. In this particular interview he talks about wanting to work with Argento and how that all came about, but the most interesting story is about when he met Terry Gilliam. Soavi was screening his first film, Stage Fright, at a film festival and was being interviewed when he was asked who some of his favorite directors were. He mentioned Gilliam and shortly thereafter Gilliam happened to walk by. The reporter pulled him over and introduced the two and Soavi told him about him about Stage Fright. Long story short this encounter led to Soavi becoming the second unit director on The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Soavi has so much joy when telling this story, his eyes just light up, that it’s hard not to love the guy.

The Sect isn’t for everyone and it’s certainly not Soavi’s best work, but if you like Italian horror and you are a fan of Soavi then you’ll dig this one too. And if you dig this then you’ll most definitely want to get your hands on the Shameless Blu-ray.

The Sect is currently available on region B Blu-ray from Shameless Films.