Soavi is the
type of director that seems to make every movie as if it was his last, taking
the chance to squeeze in as many ideas, symbolism, and set pieces as possible. The
result is eclectic and convoluted but also spellbinding, as in THE SECT and
CEMETERY MAN, with the former being the more ominous and downbeat of the two,
likely the result of everyone working to appease the boss-man, Dario Argento.
Part of the reason for
the intricacy is because THE SECT is a product of three different writers, Argento, Soavi, and Gianni Romoli,*
all of whom seemed to have their own visions. The production of the movie
started with a screenplay for an unrealized movie called CATACOMBS by Romoli, and Argento took it and added his input, which included references to
The Rolling Stones (he’s a huge fan).* Soavi
further incorporated a script from an unrealized movie of his, THE WELL, and
layered it with esotericism and Celtic symbolism, and the seemingly independent
ideas from three different heads was further refined and finalized by Romoli* into one hellava movie.
Nevertheless,
the convoluted nature of the film has harmed it for a large fraction of viewers,
making it difficult to follow and giving it an underlining annoyance that the
movie may not be going anywhere. Therefore, the recommended way to view this is
to just concern oneself with what is taking place at hand without worrying
about where the story is leading to. It’s best to enjoy the individual segments
for what they’re worth, and being that there’s a lot of gold here, they’re
worth a lot.
