10 Underrated Films From The Last 5 Years That Flew Way Under The Radar

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score: 90%

Box Office: $3.5 million

Coming out in the year that FLDS leader Warren Jeffs was arrested and sentenced to 20 to life in prison, when Martha Marcy May Marlene was released the topic of cults in America was a hot one. Jeffs became notorious the world over when the FBI placed him on their top 20 most wanted list in 2006, fleeing his home state of Utah where he was accused of incest and sexual activity with minors.

While the cult leader in Sean Durkin’s Martha Marcy May Marlene is yet to attain such notoriety, John Hawkes’ Patrick is very much in the mould of a young Jeffs. He seduces new members with the promise of paradise on a self-sufficient farm in the Catskill Mountains, bending them to his will and raping them as and when he pleases. When his newest recruit Martha attempts to flee the cult after coming to understand the lengths they will go to in pursing their utopia, her biggest challenge yet approaches – reintegration into normal society.

While it couldn’t work without Hawkes’ harrowing performance, it is lead Elizabeth Olsen that turns this film from a good one into a great one. Inspired by the real story of a woman fleeing an oppressive cult leader, Olsen captures her character’s torment with haunting subtlety, switching from impressionable teen to paranoid runaway with ease.

It was this performance that put her on the map, landing her roles in the Hollywood remake of Oldboy, the Godzilla reboot and Scarlet Witch in Marvel’s Cinematic Universe.