The idea of cults has always caused a lot of discomfort in modern societies.
New religious movements with charismatic leaders and values that run perpendicular to those
that have been around for generations, many have a hard time reconciling with the ideas
presented.
It’s not hard to see why filmmakers would use these organizations as sources of evil
and discord in their films.
Satanic cults can bring hellish evil into the world, sacrificial cults will kill people
to achieve their goals, new-age cults will force veganism onto your largely carnivorous
grandfather.
These are all scary ideas to the general public, especially when they have comfortably lived
their lives in the service of other ideologies.
So scary, in fact, that they often cause public panic when included in pop culture and media!
Plenty of parents would rather see their child locked in a room without outside stimuli for
years rather than join a less-established movement.
I’m not saying that you should go out and join a cult, I’m just saying maybe talk
to your kids before they run off with a Jim or a Charlie.
Hello horror heads, and welcome back to the scariest channel on YouTube: Top5ScaryVideos.
I’m your horror host, Keegan Hughes, and today we’re counting down a classic horror
conundrum: we’re talking the Top 5 Scariest Cult Horror Movies.
Grab your ceremonial garb and take a big ol’ swig of kool-aid, because this one is gonna
get weird.
Before we chant in unison and summon the one true ruler, make sure to fire a big thumbs
up down below, and subscribe to join the Top5Scary cult.
The Top5Scary new religious movement.
… Ok…
The Lucyfers.
Let’s get going!
NUMBER FIVE: THE HOUSE OF THE DEVIL Hard to believe this one is about a cult,
right?
There’s no way that title has to do with anything other than sunshine and rainbows!
In all seriousness, this is a fascinating slow-burn of a cult horror, with a whole lot
to take in before the climactic ritual occurs.
Ti West’s tribute to the horror movies of years gone by, this 2009 flick is equal parts
slasher and haunted house, with a cult pulling the strings behind it all.
We follow college student Samantha Hughes as she tries to rent a house in order to escape
her awful garbage person roommate.
In order to make a quick buck, she takes on a babysitting gig, but soon realizes that
the man offering her the job is a lying weirdo.
There’s no child to care for, only an elderly mother asleep in the upstairs bedroom.
After weighing the pros and cons of remaining in this creepy house of lies, Samantha decides
to stick it out for the cash.
A walkman dance sequence and a really gross slice of pizza later, everything goes sideways.
I’ll leave it at that.
This 70’s-80’s homage is a fascinating watch, partly because of how true-to-form
it is.
West set out to make a flick that embodied old-school horror movies, and did it to a
T. Everything from the set pieces, to the costuming,
to the camerawork, even the acting screams late 70’s early 80’s.
It’s pretty uncanny if I’m being honest.
Like I said before, The House of the Devil is one hell of a slow burn.
Nothing really seems to happen for the first little while, but it’s alright because the
80’s revisionism is so well-done.
The scares are well-dispersed, and it builds up a particularly creepy atmosphere using
very little for the longest time.
Clues are dropped, and strange events occur, all leading up to a pretty insane climax.
The cult behind the scenes is smaller than expected, but still manage to get away with
some pretty messed up stuff.
The credits sequence in this flick is one of the bleakest in recent memory to say the
least.
No post-credits scenes here.
NUMBER FOUR: MANDY
This one would have been higher if it weren’t so gosh darn RADICAL.
Like doing a varial heel down a 10 step radical, not religious extremism.
Although, the cult in this one gets pretty extreme, I’m not gonna lie.
Mandy is one of the weirdest and wildest horror movies from 2018, and features a cult like
no other: The Children of the New Dawn, led by Jeremiah Sand.
For whatever reason, this cult takes a particular interest in forest logger Red Miller’s girlfriend;
the titular Mandy.
This cult also takes a particular interest in extra-strong LSD and human flesh, but we’ll
get there in a moment.
So the Children of the New Dawn kidnap Mandy, and it’s up to Red to go save her.
By the way, did I mention that Red is played by Nicolas Cage?
Did I also mention he gives one of his most varied performances ever in this movie?
Like bouncing between a perfectly contented, respectful logger in love to a vodka chugging,
screaming, chainsaw-wielding, cocaine-blasting, murderous lunatic?
Yeah, all these details kind of distract from the terror of the cult, but definitely add
to Mandy as a film overall.
Back to the cult, The Children of the New Dawn are creepily self-worshipping, and want
nothing more than for people to worship them as well.
The employ mutated hell-bikers to do their bidding, at the mere cost of a human life.
Without spoiling too much, things get very cosmic very quickly thanks to the super-powered
LSD.
Honestly, it’s difficult to describe the heights of insanity this movie reaches, and
I can do nothing but praise Panos Cosmatos and his incredible work.
A slow start, maybe, but in the end we get to see Nicholas Cage forge a battle axe and
use it.
Hard to argue with that.
NUMBER THREE: MIDSOMMAR
Ari Aster loves cults.
Both of his feature films present us with a lovely group of people undermining the happiness
and safety of our protagonists in the name of a higher power of some sort.
In Midsommar, this higher power is the togetherness of one cult, an anti-Western communal sense
of self.
This seems quite nice, a refreshing look at life and love and family and community, right?
Haha.
WRONG.
The Swedish commune hosting their 90-year festival has a twisted view of togetherness,
especially when outsiders are lured in to take part.
The movie follows poor Dani, still reeling from the murder-suicide in her family, as
she tags along with her boyfriend and his pals on their trip to Sweden.
Once there, it becomes very apparent that they have bit off more than they can chew,
as the Swedes ritualistically sacrifice members, and others start to disappear with no explanation.
It seems like cults also have a particular affinity for psychedelics, because just like
in Mandy, the cultists imbibe in plenty of mind-altering substances throughout the flick.
The sheer difference between how Westerners and the commune view life and death make this
a shocking film to say the least.
Then, as things get more intense and the festival drags on, some truly disturbing things happen.
I’ll avoid spoilers this time, but let's just say nobody wants to end up in that triangle
building at the end of the lawn.
For Dani, this might be a story of catharsis and new beginnings, but for pretty much everyone
else this is folk horror to match the likes of the original Wicker Man.
NUMBER TWO: ROSEMARY’S BABY
The Roman Polanski classic, this cult horror kinda put cult horror on the map!
Most of the movies on this list take some sort of inspiration from Rosemary’s Baby.
It’s just too iconic not to have an influence!
Another serious slow burn, this movie makes you squirm with uncertainty.
There are all sorts of small things that happen throughout that make you think to yourself
“ahhh maybe don’t do that” but in context they’re all so seemingly innocent it would
be crazy for Rosemary to refuse.
By the time you, or anyone, pieces it all together, it’s too late.
The way this movie makes your gut drop is incredible.
We follow Rosemary, played by the incredible Mia Farrow, as she and her husband move into
a new apartment and get pregnant.
Soon their neighbours introduce themselves, and the newlyweds are treated to plenty of
overbearing near-parental supervision by everyone in the building.
This would be just annoying in any other scenario, but of course there’s something sinister
going on.
The scariest thing about Rosemary’s Baby is how normal it all seems, until the normalcy
disappears abruptly.
The acting is top notch here too, really selling the stifling environment.
It could happen to anyone!
It could happen to you!
If your neighbour offers you a smelly pendant and some tannis root, back away slowly.
NUMBER ONE: HEREDITARY I said it already: Ari Aster loves cults!
And honestly, nothing kept me up at night quite like the slow discovery of Paimon’s
worshippers.
Dunno if I can ever scrub the image of nude old folks grinning in the darkness from my
brain.
There are so many absolutely horrifying moments packed into this hellish dollhouse of a movie,
it’s hard to decide where to begin.
It takes a look at the Graham clan as they live their lives following the death of their
maternal grandmother.
Annie, the mother of the family, is hit with loss after loss in this flick, all while being
approached by strangers who knew her mother before she died.
Focusing on the grief of the family, Hereditary draws you in with compelling family drama
and mortifying agony, but has the cult of Paimon creeping around in the periphery at
all times.
The strange jewelry on the grandmother, her particular interest Annie’s youngest child
Charlie, familiar faces at the grief support group, these all grow into a cacophony of
morbid terror as the movie progresses.
The final half-hour of Hereditary hits a fever pitch, and the cult’s intentions become
crystal clear.
The floating of headless corpses up to poor Charlie’s treehouse is a movie moment for
the textbooks.
All of this set to Colin Stetson’s killer score, and you have a cult horror not soon
forgotten.
Hail Paimon!
OUTRO Secret societies, slow-burning stories, gut-wrenching
reveals, all hallmarks of incredibly scary cult horror.
Do you agree with the films on this list?
Are there any you would add?
Have you seen our Scariest Cults in Horror Movie video?
Make sure you let me know in the comments!
Speaking of comments, let’s take a quick look at some of your more mysterious ones
from last time: Tamar Rosenberg-Walker says: “Black Christmas
is the best Christmas horror movie (the original).
I watch it every year on Christmas night.
Never gets old.
I wholeheartedly agree!
I must’ve watched it at least three times this holiday season.
Whiskey Brewer says: “Deck the Halls with Bowels of Holly”
Poor Holly, she got disemboweled on Christmas Eve.
Paul Lomax says “They excavate using explosives and discover something truly disturbing.
They excavate using explosives and discover something truly disturbing.”
They excavate using explosives and discover something truly disturbing
Iron Ox says “Ok can you please release that as an actual song!
Or, a christmas horror album?
Please!”
If you rent me some studio space, I’ll give you a Christmas Horror LP!
Two of them!
Now what should we call it?
Sarah Herbison says “I saw Rare Exports, it was good but I saw enough old man Santa
dong to last a lifetime” OLD MAN SANTA DONG.
That’s a phrase I never thought I would hear out loud.
Thanks for that.
And that’s all the time we have for today!
Thanks for watching, and I’ll see you next time.