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Dale Domazar (Ry Barrett) is a TV sensation. He’s known for his Clint Eastwood-style approach as a career “Cult Buster”, freeing people from captivity and pulling the veil off of false prophets, and doing so all in his first season as a television star. For all intents and purposes, he’s become a hit, and unfortunately, his success gets short-lived when his latest undercover operation results in the gruesome deaths of an entire cult and its leader. Fallen from grace and reduced to hustling for subpar gigs while living desolate in his trailer, it’s not until one evening when Dale gets a desperate phone call though his hotline that he finds a chance for redemption.
Kallie (Liv Collins), a beleagured realtor struggling at her competitive job in addition to her troubled marriage, decides to induct her husband, Brad (Justin Bott) into Hope Acres, a getaway ranch for healing led by Master Jagori (Tony Burgess). With her husband brainwashed and thoroughly convinced that he doesn’t need to go home, Kallie is forced to take matters into her own hands when she stumbles upon the phone number infamous “Cult Buster” himself, a development that soon sees the two fighting for their survival when Kallie’s home is descended upon by masked henchmen, an incident that bodes as more than enough for Dale to connect the dots and launch his career comeback, dispensing his own brand of justice.
That’s basically the wind-up-and-the-pitch to director Jesse Thomas Cooke’s newest action comedy thriller, Cult Hero, which he storied along with Collins and Burgess for a screenplay by Kevin Revie. Laced with an over-the-top 80s allure and a protagonist who talks like he’s voice-narrating his own movie trailer; No matter if he’s in front of the camera or in conversation with someone, he’s never out of character, which is interesting to see when things go awry in the film’s pivotal opening “bust” sequence.
Lead actress Collins also produced the film, additionally bringing ample effort to this comedy thriller with a role that bodes as a fresh caricature of internet lore. She’s underperforming at work compared to her curvatious co-worker Cynthia (Jessica Vano), and she tends to be really insecure of herself at times and often more controlling than she realizes. This particularly gets highlighted at one point when she catches herself being recorded while harrassing a group of kids selling lemonade while she’s on the job nearby.
Together, Dale and Kallie deliver an unlikely and oddball pairing to achieve one common goal which eventually proves to be a journey of necessary growth and self-discovery for Kallie, as well as a true test of her bond with Brad, who finds himself every now and then slipping in and out of the influence, albeit still stuck under the control of Jagori and his manipulative minions.
Characterization is interesting enough to keep the attention, while it’s not really until well past the first half-hour that things get a little more gory again; There’s a few scenes of torture with a few other shots of henchmen getting either maimed or shot in the head, and it should be noted that there’s a scene in which the character, Brad can be seen attempting suicide just before Kallie walks in with no clue as to what just happened.
Featuring music by Burgess and co-star Chuck Baker, who plays the role of Martin, Cult Hero hands viewers a full package of original thrills and splashy entertainment that never runs short of exorbitant. Dale’s garish veneer is the centerpiece spectacle of Cult Hero played brilliantly by Barrett with Collins’ Kallie carrying the film excellently into the second half. For this, you get a film that delivers a modestly-entertaining action horror comedy that eventually lets ‘er rip in an explosive third-act.
Cult Hero screened on July 30 for Fantasia International Film Festival.
