This film revolves around a young detective finding purpose in a misdirected life. It starts out with the story of a rough upbringing and finding a mentor that helps. Cult Killer begins with a vibe that feels like an extended episode of Cold Case and then moves in an eerie direction where silence and hidden secrets have a purpose. It is a special brand of thriller. Sadly, it does not take the cake.
The film focuses on the characters of Cassie Holt (played by Alice Eve) and Mikhail Tellini (played by Antonio Banderas). Tellini is a private detective that helps Cassie get back to her roots in life. He helps her to get past her alcoholism stages and to see the brighter sides of her existence. Cassie is a woman who has hustled and done all kinds of shady activities to make ends meet. Mikhail though, helps her climb out of that pattern and then shockingly is murdered. With Cassie saddened and dealing with grief, she is assigned by Rory McMahon to solve Mikhail’s murder. She finds herself discovering a world of evidence she did not know existed. She also realizes the corruption of law-enforcement surrounding Mikhail’s case. With shady executives Victor Harrison (played by Matthew Tompkins) and Wallace (played by Kim DeLonghi) working against Cassie solving the puzzles to Victor’s murder, a trail of questions and answers slowly come along in Cult Killer, yet the story remains lacking.
Cassie finds herself experiencing many flashback moments with Mikhail. She remembers times when he encouraged her to explain things and helped her find resolutions to problems. These moments come up in Cassie’s mind as she moves through her investigation into Mikhail’s murder. He had been stabbed repeatedly and as Cassie deals with grief and the inquiry into her mentor’s death, she also remembers to have her guard up.
In the shadows of Cult Killer, fascinating evidence hides throughout the anxiety-provoking writing of the film. Politics and people from within the case remain prejudicial with the exception of one person named Jamie Douglas (played by Shelley Hennig). Jamie guides Cassie into the deep alleys throughout the film. She explains shady places and situations to Cassie, yet she does it so sporadically and with an ego that leaves her suspect as to whether she can be trusted or not. There is uncertainty about her possible involvement in Mikhail’s murder.
The murder case of Mikhail grows to become a conspiracy theory involving those who are connected to gain success from being deceitful. Jamie begins a cat-and-mouse game which is likely to lead to a trap. It should be thrilling, but ends up more of a boring experience as time begins to run out in Cult Killer. The obstacle here is continuity in that it crams so many other confusing dynamics into the case in the film. It ends up a hot mess of details which are unclear in their accuracy and relevance to the plot of Mikhail’s murder. There is not much of a “cult” feel in Cult Killer. The writing hits a plateau and then simply quits.
The action moments of violence create a picture of a predictable outcome. The rabbit hole does get deeper and darker in Cult Killer, however the revelations are not so invigorating as I anticipated. There are too many moving parts of two-sided hierarchies that keep getting thrown into the mix. They take away from the aspects of the film that the audience anticipatesand desires. The characterizations of the main players get lost along with the storyline. It starts off well, but then becomes a trail of misdirection in the form of mediocre writing. Cult Killer has got a slick idea with a promising premise, but it does not execute well in its continued suspense.
The film disregards the murder case and goes down the road of personal deceitfulness instead. It just does not work here. I will say the cleverness is bold, but the premise of Cult Killer deteriorates quickly. The feeling that no one to be trusted unfolds in ways that make no sense. This should be a straight shot experience, yet it misses in its mark in its of direction of triumph. Two out of four stars for Cult Killer.
Movies with Tarek 