What’s the cliched, glib version of a cult set in the Appalachian Mountains? If it’s crazy preachers, brainwashed followers, sinister rituals, and snakes, you’ve come to the right place: all those familiar chestnuts are on display in Britt Poulton and Dan Madison Savage‘s feature debut, “Them That Follow.” But give them credit nonetheless, they take this foreboding and forbidden texture and turn it into something that’s also terrifying.
This patriarchy believes in the literal reading of Mark 16:18: “They shall take up serpents… they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover.” So, when someone in their insular community is bitten, it’s best to let them suffer for their sins and see what God decides. As crazy as it is, everyone in town is on board with this ritual. Stores close on Sundays. Everyone hitches a ride to the barn-like church in the woods, and everyone joins in the choir of “Amens” and hissing snakes.
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Reverend Lemuel (Walton Goggins) is the church’s leader. Goggins, so great as the villain in Tarantino Westerns, plays a version of Paul Dano‘s god-fearing pastor in “There Will Be Blood.” Repentance or death is the weekly sermon. Those who are clean will not be bitten, those who aren’t, will. What he’s doing is illegal because as it turns out, snakes kill people. But to his loyal zealots, life is a gift from God and death is a cathartic form of justice.
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Still, some are more skeptical. Mara (Alice Englert), Lemuel’s daughter, is among the few. She’s the proxy through which the audiences experience its wavering suspicion. Mara is the only one searching for the truth. Who is right and who is wrong? Are her father’s strict rules good for her? Or is the cute boy who walked away from the church (Thomas Mann) right to have done so? “Them That Follow” slowly peels back its character’s layers; revealing their inner motives under their thick outer shells.
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What it reveals isn’t always pretty. The cute boy previously mentioned is Augie. Mara is having Augie’s baby but is terrified to tell anyone. Under the assumption she would be banished, she keeps it a secret from her dad, the church, and Augie’s parents (Olivia Colman, Jim Gaffigan). The script also reveals its lack of character building. The great Olivia Colman, coming off her Oscar win for “The Favorite,” is subjected to spouting off dumb religious metaphors. As Jim Gaffigan, known for his wit, is sentenced to reaction shots and a single line of dialogue. The parents do find out, though, and Mara’s faith is tested.
Your own faith will be tested early and often in “Them That Follow” too—slow burn doesn’t begin to describe its pace. Yet it also finds ways to take us down familiar paths into a bleak setting all its own. The skies are grey; the people are pale, and the rich autumn leaves dance to Garth Davidson‘seerie score. Poulton and Savage realize that sometimes it’s the quiet moments in horror films that are the most memorable. Silent moments certainly build the most tension, and they eloquently reflect Mara’s introverted personality.
It’s no surprise how it ends for Mara (the opening shot trades Chekhov’s gun for Chekhov’s snake). That said, by the time the story gets there, you will be itching your palms and tapping your feet. For all its glacially-paced moments—to which there a quite a few—the payoff is well worth the wait. More than that, the reckoning goes beyond suspenseful into something more meaningful. Mara finally finds out what it’s like to take matters into her own hands. She’s the first to be pro-choice in her religion. Backed by a growing sense of fear, a great, if underused, cast and a couple of promising directors; going to see “Them That Follow” in a theater is ultimately an easy choice to make. [B]
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