Popular reviews

• 

  Review by Mandrakegray ★★★½

  Slo-burn Canadian Horror/Thriller, given much-needed weight by way of a superlative portrayal from Karen Black.

  Filmed in 1972 in Montreal, and given a limited release the following year, this interesting tale of a police investigation involving a Satan worshipping cult opts not to present its tale in a linear fashion...beginning with the death of Black's character, a prostitute/drug addict who falls from a high-rise apartment. Following that opening, and a credit sequence where one of three soundtrack contributions featuring Black's haunting vocals plays, the remaining film chooses to bounce back and forth between police procedural (in which Christopher Plummer's Sgt. Jim Henderson investigates the murder) and flashbacks depicting the days leading up to Black's demise.

  This dry, very low-key psychological…

• 

  Review by PT99 ★★½

  Gonna go start a cult with dudes who play gacha games.

  5/10

• 

  Review by The Horror of Marna Larsen ★★★★★ 15

  Watched this on amazon and was looking thru the reviews to see if there's supposed to be just French which when you turn on the subtitles just says speaking French whenever they are speaking French so to all my french speaking friends out there and by all I mean Tony (as far as I know) this would be a good one for you!

  Anyway, the first review was someone saying Karen Black can't sing or write lyrics (the main musical tracks were written and performed by her) and Idk who that guy thinks he is but I assume he's like Karen Black's unshaven gross landlord in this movie who is all like 'well you do sex work so you should…

• 

  Review by 13beersl8r ★★★

  Underappreciated occult murder mystery where a shadowy cabal of satanic power brokers use heroin and money to fuel their delusions of majesty and influence. Plummer and Black provide some nice flourishes and the whole thing has that wonderful gritty 70s Canadian street feel. Would have benefited from leaning more into the darker aspects but as procedurals go this had much more going for it than not.

• 

  Review by FakeVoorhees ★★

  Alternatively titled The Hooker Cult Murders but either title is misleading because this is mainly a slow moving crime drama and not the horror film it was marketed as. Christopher Plummer investigates a murder while Karen Black just lives her life as an drug addicted prostitute who seems likely to be the next murder victim. Plummer and Black are both great but nothing much happens in the movie. If the marketing hadn't played up the cult and horror elements, they might have been an interesting twist when they finally come into play during the last ten minutes.

• 

  Review by ᴬⁿᵗʰᵒⁿʸ ★★½

  Did Alvin and the Chipmunks sing that satanic chant at the end or what? 💉

• 

  Review by 𝕭laze the 𝓐ction 𝕵unkie ★

  This one had some highlights, but they were confused in the chaotic twists of tempos and mixed themes as this one skips around to more different plot lines and stories than many compilation films. We have a murder investigation that leads to prostitutes, intimate and creepy scenes, and then unrelated shootouts on a big boat. The entire thing ends up in this rapey cult. It's without a doubt a mixed bag. Not entirely the very worst of the mixed bags I've seen, but it might be close.

  1973 Ranked
  1970’s Ranked
  Horror Ranked
  Horror in the 1970’s Ranked
  Crime and Law Enforcement / Investigation films Ranked
  Stalkers Ranked
  Serial Killers Ranked

• 

  Review by Carlo V

  They Shoot Up Horse, Don't They?

• 

  Review by teamgal ★★★½

  An unhurried, deliberately-paced police procedural that only reveals itself to be a full-fledged horror film in its final moments. THE PYX boasts intelligent direction, a well-structured screenplay, a fascinating score, and a compelling lead performance from Karen Black. Anyone willing to put in the effort, will find themselves amply rewarded. This is a film that most definitely deserves more fans.

  And not to turn this into a footnote — it's a very fine, very creepy 70s horror — but, as many have noted, Black wrote and performed three eerie folk songs for the soundtrack and her lovely, polished voice here helps underscore how great she is in NASHVILLE.

• 

  Review by proofrock ★★★½ 1

  Long (for what it is), slow, and deliberate, this is a swirl of dual death spirals, one which ends in the opening credits and which is told in flashback as the other is unfolding. At the center of both is a black mass, which sets the film into action, and we see how we get there and its aftermath in equal screen time. This may explain the non-urgent nature in which they spin together, but it definitely amps up the dread, and works in the film’s favor. Karen Black is radiant as our doomed heroin heroine, getting a little too mumbly to not have been around the stuff before, and Christopher Plummer does well as the detective investigating her murder.…

• 

  Review by dantesring ★★★★ 3

  Satan was on the top of filmmakers minds in 1970s. After the shattering success of THE EXORCIST, the devil, cults and anti-christs swept through the theaters. The devil had always been there, darkness and chaos is always more interesting the peace and harmony after all, but it felt way more present until slashers took over.
  THE PYX coming out the same year as Friedkin's film is an interesting entry. There is a core of sadness and inevitability the fills this film, as if fate is the ultimate force.
  I have always been fascinated by Karen Black. I am not sure she was a great actress, but she was always an interesting one. THE PYX highlights her strengths. She had a…

• 

  Review by 🇵🇱 Steve G 🐝 ★½ 1

  Disillusionment In Sun-Drenched 1970s American New Wave Cinema: A Watching Brief

  I've really no idea how this film ended up in this list because it's 100% Canadian.

  I also really wish it hadn't ended up in this list because it's staggeringly boring. A complete waste of a typically terrific performance by Karen Black with sturdy support from Christopher Plummer, this occult mystery is so slow and uneventful that I fell asleep twice and I'm not even especially tired today.

  I expected it to pick up some pace near the end and while it did, it was cancelled out by a narrative that then became extremely confusing, not at all helped by a back-and-forth timeline approach. It was also not helped…