A new queer horror film about the trauma experienced by someone who escaped from the Fundamentalist Latter Day Saints (FLDS)? Yes please!
Directed by Daniel J. Phillips, who co-writes with Mike Harding and Ticia Madsen, Diabolic has a relatively familiar log line. The film follows Elise (Elizabeth Cullen), who suffered a traumatic possession-like experience when she was baptized as a teen back in 2015. Ten years and Elise has left the church and settled into a domestic relationship with boyfriend Adam (John Kim), but something is still off.
In addition to their sexually strained relationship, Elise has begun losing time and finds herself performing odd behaviours, such as digging up the backyard with her bare hands.
Under advice from her doctor, Elise embarks on a radical immersion therapy to confront her trauma and unlock her repressed & missing memories. Under the supervision of Adam, her best friend Gwen (Mia Challis), and former healers from the Church, Hyrum (Robin Goldsworthy) and his stern mother, Sister Alma Jessop (Genevieve Mooy), Elise consumes a hallucinogenic drug in the abandoned Baptistry where the opening scene took place a decade earlier.
In the process, Elise begins to remember her former life, which is revealed to include a sexual relationship with the Bishop’s daughter, Clara (Luca Asta Sardelis), and secrets involving Larue (Seraphine Harley), a mysterious female member of the congregation.
The main reason to check out Diabolic is Cullen’s performance. Playing a traumatized woman missing vital memories is a daunting task because it could result in a one-note, hollow performance, but Cullen is dynamic and compelling. Elise’s desperation and confusion is palpable, which gives the film an emotional anchor even when the wheels begin to come off in the back half.
Elise’s relationships with Adam and Gwen are also solid. While Kim gets less to play with (he’s the frustrated, albeit mostly supportive, partner), his reactions are, for the most part, believable. Challis fares better, in part because Gwen’s unwavering loyalty is pitted against Adam in a way that feels queer-coded and seemingly anticipates Elise’s discovery of her own same-sex inclinations.
Perhaps this is why – coupled with some undercooked developments involving Hyrum and his mother that never fully come together – the last act of Diabolic feels so off. Not only does the early religious trauma give way to something narratively less interesting, but several characters begin behaving out of character in ways that don’t feel at all organic to what has come before.
Not helping matters is that each time to narrative cuts to Goldsworthy and Mooy, it is clear how much weaker their acting is. Whenever the film moves away from Elise, it tends to falter. This includes the truth about what was going on in the opening baptism, and who played a role in burying the truth; neither development is as exciting or revelatory as Phillips, Harding and Madsen believe it is.
The fact that the plot lets the film down so dramatically is especially disappointing because the third act undeniably features the film’s best practical FX. Diabolic has great atmosphere throughout, from beautiful drone shots of the ominous-looking woods, to the warmer hues of the flashbacks of a pre-2015 Elise and Clara, to the damp and decrepit interior of the baptistry.
The third act, however, really ramps up the visuals as a last act filled with violence dominates the proceedings. The blood, black bile, and possession make-up are all welcome additions, as are several gorier-than-expected deaths (Diabolic goes surprisingly hard for its climax). The issue that is that despite visually ramping things up several notches, the messy plotting that accompanies the bloodbath results in a confusing, muddled final message that doesn’t resonate.
Just as the horror ratchets up, Diabolic hits the narrative skids, which is disappointing because the film was highly watchable until the last act. As it stands, the dicey acting of the supporting cast and questionable storytelling doesn’t diminish the good first half or the great FX of the last act.
The result is a film that’s halfway there; Diabolic is a soft-recommend. 2.5/5
Diabolic is available On Demand February 20, 2026
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