10 Most Terrifying Horror Movie Cults

Before making it big with seriously weird Netflix show The OA, director Zal Batmanglij and his co-writer and star Brit Marling made this almost as odd psychological thriller/sort of sci-fi featuring Marling as a charismatic cult leader claiming, quite convincingly, to have come from half a century in the future to save a chosen few from the coming dystopia.

Sound Of My Voice isn't exactly a horror film. Certainly this cult is responsible for a few less dismemberments and creative human sacrifices than the others on this list. In fact, it's kind of hard to pin down what genre the movie is and where it stands on whether Marling's Maggie is a manipulative charlatan or the real deal.

That, though, is precisely what makes it so unsettling. As the documentary filmmakers who are our viewpoint characters, and who initially set out to expose Maggie as a fraud, fall under her spell and join in her rituals, we in the audience are left unclear on where we stand.

Just like its cult, the movie offers no easy answers, which may be frustrating for some would-be followers. In the latter's case, though, the explanation is more simple. It was supposed to be the first in a trilogy and the other two parts never got made.