Movies are a lot like cults. Think about it; strangers gather in a dark room to silently absorb a story directed, and often written as well, by one person (the leader) and told with the help of cast and crew (the cult members.) While not based on membership, the audience leaves the theater either as supporters or critics. This analogy may work better with some movies over others (the Transformers franchise is more like a corporation than a cult), but it certainly works with Riley Stearns’ fantastic indie genre gem Faults, and not just because the film’s primary subject is saving an innocent girl from an enigmatic cult. It’s an original feature debut, a compelling chamber piece boasting fantastic performances, and so soaked in charisma that it’s almost impossible not to be enchanted from hilarious start to insatiable finish.

Ansel Roth (Leland Orser) is a washed-up mind control expert who is touring with his new book, and stealing restaurant vouchers from garbage bags in the process. The book is not as successful as its predecessor, and his agent Terry cuts him off, demanding full payment for the money Ansel owes him within the week. Ansel’s seminars fail to spark enthusiasm from the half-empty conference rooms, apart from a man who blames him for his sister’s death, and an elderly couple who seek his help regarding their daughter. After refusing them at first, Ansel is compelled to help when he realizes that he has no other way to pay Terry. Claire (Mary Elizabeth Winstead) has left her home to join a cult that goes by the name of Faults and Ansel promises that he’ll do his best to “de-program” her, and bring her back home. Over the next five days, Ansel’s session with Claire results in dire psychological consequences.

Its premiere at SXSW earlier in the year started off the buzz (with our very own Dustin loving it to bits,) but Faults massively blinked on my radar when it was announced for Montreal’s genre festival Fantasia simply because I’ve become a bona fide Winstead fan, after her stunning performance in 2012’s Smashed. The streak continues here; she peels off Claire’s layers with agility and complete composure to reveal a fascinating and devilishly twisted character. But the pedestal has room for one more name: Mr. Leland Orser. As soon as you see him in the brilliant opening diner sequence, you’ll most likely go “oh yeah, that guy!” because he’s one of those actors you’re bound to have spotted somewhere. Examples include Liam Neeson’s buddy Sam from the Taken movies, the traumatized man who was forced to kill the prostitute in Seven, and countless TV appearances. Not that I’ve seen everything he’s been in, but dollars to doughnuts he’s never been as good as Ansel Roth, a role that proves how underrated and underused Orser has been all these years. It’s likely to remain one of the strongest male performances of the year.

As with any successful cult, its members are only as good as its leader (or so I’ve heard anyway), and the two leads wouldn’t have been able to pull off such startlingly good performances without Riley Stearns’ script and direction. The pitch black humor keeps the pacing of Faults at intoxicating levels; slow-burning yet never dull, with every scene crucial to the development of character, plot, and theme, more often than not all three at once. So controlled is the direction and so intelligent the screenplay, that it’s almost hard to believe this is Stearns’ first crack at features.

I’ve been joking around with the idea of cults in this review because Faults‘ shifty tone welcomes a lighter approach to the subject compared to, say, Martha Marcy May Marlene. If there’s something for critics to latch onto it could be that, but not me. Genre filmmaking is an end in itself, never pretentious, and always more about the journey than the destination. The simmering tension, controlled by Stearns at meticulous temperature levels, comes to such an entertaining climactic boil that it will have me cheering and supporting Faults, its leader and all of its members, for a long time to come. For lovers of intelligent suspense and sickly dark humor, Faults is home.

(Originally published on July 25, 2014 as part of our Fantasia festival coverage)

Frank

An aspiring keyboardist named Jon (Domhnall Gleeson) stumbles into an impeccable opportunity when he walks passed a band that just so happens to need a keyboardist after theirs recently tried to drown himself in the ocean. The best part about this band is that the lead singer, Frank (played by Michael Fassbender), wears a giant papier mache head at all times—even while sleeping and eating, making those situations hysterical. When Jon asks the band member how Frank is able to brush his teeth, he is given the perfect reply, “You’re going to just have to go with it.” It’s this kind of tongue-in-cheek attitude that makes Frank so entertaining to watch.

Unfortunately, Frank doesn’t always bother to follow its own rules. Inside of the third act, the film felt obligated to explain too much of its self, disrupting the go with the flow mentality that came before it. That being said, Frank is still an absurdist comedy about discovering inner creativity that is worth seeking out–especially at SXSW since the festival makes an appearance in the film.

RATING: 7.3

The Guest

Perhaps the most exciting collaboration in the horror genre as of late is director Adam Wingard and writer Simon Barrett. Together the duo has previously worked on the V/H/S series and more recently in the horror/comedy You’re Next. Continuing with their trend of genre mashing, their latest effort in The Guest takes the action and badassery of The Terminator and mixes it with the style and sound of Halloween.

A solider (Dan Stevens) shows up at a door claiming to know the owners son before he passed away in the war. He is a charming man with hypnotic blue eyes and is handsomely built. The family accepts him into the house after he plays his cards right, radiating more cool than even Ryan Gosling could exude. Eventually one of the family members begins to grow suspicious of him after showing signs of trying to hide his true identity.

Using the same equipment used on the soundtrack of John Carpenter’s Halloween 3, the energetic synth soundtrack in The Guest superbly produces the pacing for the mayhem that unfolds. Even though the main character is clearly the villain, I found myself still rooting for him at times—like when he helps one of the family members from being bullied at school. The Guest is like an atmospheric 80s action thriller that is intentionally overacted and exaggerated. The story is not very elaborate, but that doesn’t matter when you’re having this much fun.

RATING: 8.2