Conjuring the Cult (2024) Review

Conjuring the Cult (2024) Review

After finding his daughter dead, David Bryson (Neil Green) attends a self-help group to cope with his nightmares. But when a group of mysterious women offer to resurrect his daughter, David’s own fate and that of his daughter’s soul hangs in the balance.

CONJURING THE CULT is written and directed by Calvin Moore McCarthy, who’s film CV reads like a collection of titles using, within their titles, popular franchise names, for example ‘INSIDIOUS’ Inferno, ‘CONJURING: the Beyond’ and now this. Intentional or otherwise CONJURING THE CULT makes for very funny viewing and often borders on camp and there aren’t that many movies that deal with grief that’ll make viewers chuckle, certainly none of which I am aware.

Most of the most part CONJURING THE CULT sees grieving father David continually encounters the spirit of his deceased daughter Masha (Chynna Rae Shurts) as she lollops around the family home, long dark hair hanging down, bent forward like a J-Horror wannabe, effectively aping RINGU, THE GRUDGE and many others of that ilk. When Masha is not channelling her inner Samara, she is instead screeching loudly into camera, mouth wide open, again like a J-Horror wannabe channelling THE GRUDGE, or suddenly popping into frame for one of this film’s many attempts at ‘jump’ scares.

Quite how David, or anyone else for that matter, fails to suss that the four younger women that he meets through the grief support group attends are witches is beyond me. They all dress in black, often talk in unison, and when arriving unannounced at David’s front door they are enshrouded within a mist/fog, but again David appears not to notice and just says to come on in. CONJURING THE CULT is better made than most other lower-budget flicks and is certainly entertaining albeit sometimes for the wrong reasons.

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