Director(s) – Jimmy Arbugh and Travis Lander
Starring – Jimmy Arbugh, Louise Arbaugh, and Marcedel Arbaugh
Release Date – 2025
Rating – 3/5
I’ve been reviewing indie horror for years now and it’s absolutely my favorite thing to do. I love watching a no budget indie flick and then typing out my thoughts regardless if I had fun with the movie or not. It’s always a fun experience to check out an indie horror flick and I refuse to turn down for review.
Back before I started reviewing the Exorcismo set from Severin Films, I was asked to review the indie horror flick The Anointed. I had already promised Severin I would check the set out but I didn’t expect the set to take me as long as it did. In fact, it took me almost a month to check it out and I would like to apologize to Shane Taraschke for allowing myself and Horror Society the opportunity to check it out.
**Spoiler Alert** The film follows a a backwoods cult that is keen on misinterpreting the bible and killing those they feel are going against their beliefs. Lucky for them, a pair of friends exploring the beautiful country of Arkansas and a small group of friends both cross paths with them resulting in some blood shed. **Spoiler Alert**
I absolutely love religious horror and feel that it doesn’t get enough love especially from the indie horror community. I grew up in Appalachia and find religion, especially fanatical Christianity, to be extremely scary. That’s why I was so excited to check out The Anointed. It looked like an no budget nod to films like Red State and Inverted. Inverted had it’s moments and I absolutely loved Red State. The Anointed was a decent film but had a lot working against it.
The acting in this one was not that enjoyable for me. The film starts out with a YouTube style vlogging introduction that was extremely difficult to watch. The dialogue is very forced and not natural during this scene with the film not really improving as it progressed. The cast, for what I was able to find, is not very experienced but they do show dedication to their roles which not something I can say about a lot of films regardless of budget.
The story for this one has it’s issues but I absolutely love the idea of a religious cult in the woods killing trespassers who sin. With that being said, having the two friends die before moving to the group split the film up when it didn’t have to. This, along with scenes that are a bit too long for the story, took away from the pacing.
Finally, the film has plenty of blood. While the effects we get are very limited, it is not shy with the red stuff. We get a lot of bloody deaths and moments that fit with the film very well. Overall, The Anointed is extremely rough around the edges but is still enjoyable especially if you are a fan of religious horror. While I don’t see myself revisiting it anytime soon, I still enjoyed it. Check it out.
