Clint Evans

On balance it's not worth watching. It has a great cast but they are fighting an ill-conceived plot; substandard writing; chaotic direction; and plausibility holes one could drive a bus through. It's a shame because there are great shooting locations (tick); a fine cast (tick); decent camera work (tick); and the hint of a story that has tenderness, intrigue, and many genres of love. But the potential is squandered.

As a simple horror flick this movie works well with decent direction and above par acting - particularly from Hugh Grant. Worth a watch. The religious context or premise is set up well (avoiding spoilers here) with the comparisons of control, mindgames, snake oil sales, theatre, archetypal storytelling etc but even this tale can't convey the true horror of what organanised religion has done to warp humanity. In that sense it scratches the surface. Also choosing the Mormon faith is a bit cheap as it's the least convincing of all the sects and cults of its type and so makes easy prey.