Peter and Lorna are a couple.

Peter is a substitute teacher and Lorna is a fledgling writer.

We first see Maggie through the eyes of the supplicants.

We see her feet and the oxygen tank she wheels behind her.

She wears a shroud and thanks everyone for the precautions they have taken.

She is from the future.

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Peter is initially belligerent.

Lorna is open to the possibilities of someone visiting from the year 2054.

She came from a background of success, excess and addiction.

They are both damaged goods.

They both need something.

Maggie is a master manipulator who is adept at planting suggestions into the minds of the attention-starved pilgrims.

The suspense mounts as we see them accept Maggies claims as their own beliefs.

There are no specters in the corners of the screen.

There are no pop ups.

Is this a survivalist cult?

Peter and Lorna dont really know where the compound is or how large it is.

Theyve been blindly driven back and forth and have only seen what they have been allowed to see.

The tests of their trustworthiness get more complicated as the veneer comes off as slipping from Maggies facade.

And how far are they prepared to go?

Peter comes off as prepared to snatch a kid from the school where he works.

Peter has hidden behind his journalistic integrity, but he hasnt shot any footage.

What would a cult leader want with a little girl?

A federal agent named Carol tells Lorna, but the audience is left to imagine the worst.

We are left imagining because even the most revelatory moment of the film reveals nothing.

The climax is an anti-climax.

Nobody wins but the lawyers.

She played Richard Geres daughter inArbitragein 2012.

They are consistently restrained and feel ready to be unleashed.

There are no histrionics in the movie.

When Peter is broken by Maggie it is with a whimper and a little bit of vomit.

She also played Nicole inLast Days, based on the last days of grunge star Kurt Cobain.

When shes not making movies, she plays Nicole full-time at home.

It builds its thrills though the vague menace of a loving embrace.

The guru demands a complete emotional loyalty but isnt giving out any answers.

She offers a nebulous alternative point of view, a Band-Aid for trauma and a Kool-Aid catharsis.

The mounting tension leads to an ambiguous non-ending that leaves more questions than answers.

Or I was brainwashed.

Rating:

3 out of 5