The Overlook: Faults

(imdb.com)

There are plenty of films revolving around cults. From documentaries to dramas to the subgenre of horror, these movies often resolve around a disturbing cult with sinister intentions and devote followers. Less funny and more disturbing, movies following cults are often dark and feature upsetting endings. That's not the case with 2014's under the radar film, Faults.

More a dark comedy with horror elements, Faults follows an expert on cults and mind control tasked with breaking a daughter from a dangerous cult named Faults. While attempting to deprogram the young woman, the expert begins questioning his game and things take a turn for the unsettling. Directed by Riley Stearns (The Cub), Faults - while continuously tinged with a lighter air, becomes scary and by its close, will leave viewers more stunned than anything else. The movie stars Leland Orser (Saving Private Ryan) as Ansel Roth, the mind control expert, and Mary Elizabeth Winstead (10 Cloverfield Lane) plays Claire, the woman mysteriously tied to the omnipresent cult group. The cast is rounded out with Chris Ellis (Catch Me If You Can) and Beth Grant (The Office) as Claire's parents.

Taking place mostly in a secluded hotel room, Faults makes the most of its odd ball characters and their troubling quirks. Orser's Ansel is an indebted failure coping with a failed career, Winstead's Claire is simple and quiet; she is particularly spectacular, often using a cold, blank stare to command scenes, and Ellis and Grant both play their roles as overly protective parents well. As noted, Winstead controls the flow of the majority of the movie. She's a commanding presence who carries everything on her back, only assisted by the more dialogue-heavy Orser and the others.

From the get-go, despite all of its subtle comedy, something is deeply discomforting in the film. Things begin coming too easy for Ansel and when supernatural elements begin infusing to the storyline, the horror of the film becomes central, Without giving much away, this twisting film will intrigue viewers- that's a promise. Faults does suffer from some genre-mixing crises, but by the film's end, it knows exactly where it wants to end up.  In fact, it gets there with such precision, you'll be able it ignore the inconsistencies.