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Terrible acting, screenplay and direction.

Excellent, Without a doubt!!

I enjoyed watching this film and would recommend other to give it a try , (as I am) but this movie, although enjoyable to watch due to the better than average acting fails to add anything new to its storyline that is all too familiar to these types of movies.

The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.

"La seta", a.k.a. "The Sect" or "The Devil´s Daughter", is a terrible and too long "Rosemary's Baby" rip-off with an incoherent story. The segments in 1970 in California and 1991 in Frankfurt are absolutely unnecessary and do not add any value to the plot. The lead story of the school teacher Miriam Kreisl, performed by Jamie Lee Curtis' older sister Kelly Curtis, who is awfully dubbed in Italian, is full of unnecessary comings and goings. A young woman living alone in a lonely place bringing a lunatic stranger home is something that does not make any sense. Everything the guy does at her place during the night could have been done while she is at school with the exception of the worm in her nose that would have taken a moment during any night by anybody from the satanic cult. The conclusion with the devil´s baby sacrificing to protect Miriam is another absurd in the poor story. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "A Filha do Demônio" ("The Devil´s Daughter")

This is basically another take on the Rosemary's Baby scenario, but done in that inimitably weird Italian style. By this point Michele Soavi is beginning to find his own voice, and we can see him drifting apart from his controlling mentor/producer, Dario Argento. Things get off to a bad start with a ludicrous prologue in which some Satanic bikers slaughter a bunch of hippies. So far so good, except for the gang leader's ridiculous tendency to quote The Rolling Stones, talking about how their music is full of profound knowledge understood only by the chosen few. It's completely stupid, but it was a necessary sacrifice; Soavi and his co-writer (Gianni Romoli) allowed Argento to write the opening scene himself to ensure that he'd leave the rest of the movie alone. This is hilariously acknowledged in the movie itself, when at one point the head of the titular sect (a creepily subdued performance by Herbert Lom) picks up a music magazine in the protagonist's apartment and, with the air of a man who now knows better, reminisces about how deep the Stones' music was considered in the seventies.Anyway, like Soavi's other films this is brimming with nightmarish imagery (I love the burial shroud that flits in and out of the narrative) and mysterious symbolism, but it hasn't aged quite as well. The cinematography of Raffaele Mertes is serviceable during the film's moodier sections, but most of the time it feels a bit flat. The same can be said of Pino Donaggio's soundtrack, whose unimaginative synthesizer beats and drones were unfortunately endemic in the nineties. Since this is a Soavi film, though, it's still well above average and certainly never boring - he takes a derivative story and spices it up with bizarre images, stylized scenes of violence, a large helping of symbolism (much of it related to fertility), and even a pinch of Lovecraft. The ending is a point of contention for some, but I think it's both gutsy and surprisingly moving. This is perhaps Soavi's least successful horror film, but here we can already see him experimenting with images and ideas that will be perfected in his next project, Dellamorte Dellamore.

Soavi's third film credited as a director simply is a unique experience. It's a complex and demanding horror adventure, handling about a young German schoolteacher (Kelly Curtis) who becomes dangerously involved with a satanic sect led by veteran-actor Herbert Lom. The screenplay (co-written by Dario Argento) often is confusing, but the energy and enthusiasm Soavi puts into the direction simply make this one of the greatest Italian genre efforts ever. The Sect has a terrifically sinister premise and it's brilliantly cinematographed. Soavi clearly has eye for camera-movements and original angles. Even though this film features a rarely seen level of morbidity, you can't just categorize it as horror alone! In a way, The Sect also is a twisted fairy-tale (try and detect all the similarities between Miriam's adventure and 'Alice in Wonderland') and a ultra-black comedy (the sect's most devoted killer looks exactly like Charles Manson!). I'd love to write more about this intriguing film but I'm reluctant to reveal too many spoilers. At any moment in this film, you have no idea what'll happen next. Anything is possible in Michele Soavi land and I'd love for you to check it out yourself! There are a few deliciously grim sequences and great make-up effects. Highlight of the macabre unquestionably is the face-ripping scene! And there's another great trivia detail for Italian horror buffs: Giovanni Lombardo Radice has a small role early in the film. The man is clearly aging but he still knows how to gruesomely die in films. Let's talk about Michele Soavi!! Unquestionably Dario Argento's most gifted acolyte, but he never really got out of Argento's or Lamberto Bava's shadow. Dario Argento (Tenebrae, Inferno, Suspiria…) took Soavi under his wings because they have the same tastes in film-making and they both share a passion for horror. Very true, but I think you can't deny Soavi is a lot more subtle than his mentor and merely chooses for suspense and atmosphere rather than to rely on graphic gore. The film I saw of him (The Sect, Dellamorte Dellamore and The Church) all had a fair share of blood but they're not exactly the gorehound festivals Argento often delivers. I also think Soavi puts more dept and intelligence in his films. Everything he ever was involved in comes with my highest possible recommendation

Much, much, better than The Church or Aquarius, Soavi is obviously finding his way as a director. A bit too over long and not everything makes sense - what's up with that rabbit?, but the film keeps your attention for much of it's length even though you aren't really sure what is going on. Most everything is explained in the end, and it was a nice surprise to see Herbert Lom outside of the Pink Panther films again.Overall, a more worthwhile choice for those that liked Cemetery Man than either of Soavi's previous films.