Great horror concepts are everywhere. You can look at the back cover of any horror novel or the plot description on any streaming title or Blu-ray case for proof. But concepts are not stories. Building those concepts, however promising, into a convincing, engrossing, and horrifying narrative is key, which is why so many horror stories with strong starts lose people along the way.
Diabolic, the Australian-made horror film finally hitting the US after a successful festival run last year, starts with a great concept. It’s rooted in themes we can all understand, it’s got vulnerable positions for its characters, and the supernatural elements of the story provide an excellent hook. But it’s what the film does next, particularly in its third act, that makes it a must-see new piece of indie horror. It’s a film that struggles a bit with its execution, but by the end, it’s stuck the landing so thoroughly that you basically forget the flaws are there, leaving you with memories of great scares and some truly brutal kills.
It’s been 10 years since Elise (Elizabeth Cullen) left the Fundamentalist LDS church that controlled her entire life, and even expelled her for breaking its many commandments. She’s got a new life now, including a boyfriend named Adam (John Kim) who loves her deeply, and an adoptive sister named Gwen (Mia Challis) who looks out for her. But Elise did not escape the FLDS compound where she grew up completely unscathed. Her memory is full of gaps, and the bits that are still there torment her, sending her into night terrors and fugue states she can’t control.
At the urging of her therapist, Elise sets out to finally take control of her mental health through a bold, dangerous gambit. In the hopes that reclaiming her memories will help her reckon with them, she returns, with Adam and Gwen, to the FLDS community where she grew up, hoping that the remaining local healers in the area can help piece together her past. But of course, the parts of her past that Elise can’t remember are full of dark secrets, and they’re about to come to light.
If there’s a knock on this idea, it’s that, for a few minutes at least, it feels predictable, and not in a comfortable way. Most of us have seen horror films that deal with revisiting old cults, and Diabolic‘s opening act doesn’t do much in the way of breaking new ground there. The script, by Mike Harding, Ticia Madsen, and director Daniel J. Phillips, doesn’t do a lot of favors here. There’s nothing really wrong with the story, but when you add in certain rather wooden dialogue choices, it’s easy to get that feeling in the back of your mind that you’re about to watch a slightly timid film that simply goes through the motions.
But your patience will be rewarded.
See, Diabolic only wants you to think that it’s playing by established narrative rules, or that it’s pursuing the most direct route to resolution for a plot like this. It’s not, and once Elise and company are back on FLDS ground – now nearly deserted save for an old baptismal building, leaving them to camp under the stars – things start to shift. I’m hesitant to say more about how this all happens because I’d like you to find out for yourself, but it involves certain obscure religious practices, a witch that used to roam the same land, and hallucinogenic drugs.
It’s here – unspooling these ideas into a narrative that makes us fear for Elise, Adam, and Gwen – that Phillips proves his mettle as a director. This is a film that throws a lot of ideas, including flashbacks to Elise’s past and what exactly got her kicked out of the FLDS in the first place, at the viewer at once. When things ramp up, they really ramp up, and yet Phillips’ camera is patient, his pacing deliberate. He doesn’t give away the whole supernatural game until the third act, infusing the first and second with irrepressible dread and some genuinely effective scares. By the time you get to the finale, you’ve got a thoroughly creepy ride on your hands, and it’s capped off by absolute supernatural horror mayhem, including what’s likely one of the best kills you’ll see in any horror film this year.
Diabolic begins with promise, and rides out its low-budget bumps to deliver a film that, in the end, really goes for it. Despite those early stumbles, this is a risky film, a vicious film, and its ability to stick the landing makes it something to be celebrated.
Diabolic hits select theaters February 13 and arrives On Demand on February 20, 2026.
