Daniel J. Phillips’ second directorial feature, “Diabolic” (2025), wears its inspirations on its sleeve. And it adorns them well enough to craft a striking image of a riveting horror film, even though the experience is oddly familiar. Written by Phillips along with Mike Harding and Ticia Madsen, the film blends two popular recent horror themes: religious folklore and trauma manifesting as the antagonistic monster.
The familiar path “Diabolic” takes, and the known dark corners it explores, beget a sense of déjà vu. Yet despite echoing many similarly crafted stories, Phillips manages to evoke dread through clever scare techniques (not just jump scares), bolstered by Elizabeth Cullen’s committed central performance.
The film’s opening scene is preceded by a title card describing what Fundamentalist Latter-day Saints, or FLDS, are. A branch of the Mormon church, this particular group dabbled in several controversial customs. The film’s opening scene focuses on one of them: the baptism of the dead. The story’s protagonist, young Elise (Elizabeth Cullen), serves as the vessel for deceased church members.
Subsequently, the priest immerses her in the holy water, invoking the name of a departed soul as she acts as their proxy. One of the key members of the church, a woman named Alma (Genevieve Mooy), asks the priest to invoke another name. Reluctantly, the priest obliges. When the name ‘Larue’ is incanted, Elise is dragged inside the water, and a shadowy figure stands upon her.
It’s not a novel opening, but like many things the film does get right, it generates cautious intrigue. From there, the story jumps ten years. We meet Elise again as an independent woman in a modern city, in a relationship with Adam (John Kim). It’s immediately clear she hasn’t recovered from her FLDS days—riddled with blackouts, she keeps waking in odd places, her subconscious driving her to scratch and dig at the ground.
As a last resort, her psychiatrist urges a return to the old FLDS compound to confront her trauma head-on and jog her repressed memories. She is joined by a devoted Adam and Gwen (Mia Challis), one of her friends whom Adam does not seem to like much.
By now, if it resembles some favourite horror of yours, then you are not off the mark. As noted earlier, novelty is not necessarily the film’s strong suit. Phillips’ strength lies in the conviction with which he executes the familiar tropes, and in the unusual touch he exerts while blending the supernatural horrors of the story with the natural, human fallacies. There’s even a small Agatha Christie-like twist that seamlessly weaves into the evil antagonist’s chaotic destruction. To illustrate that committed execution, consider Elise’s exorcism scene.
As Elise and her party are joined by former FLDS members, Alma (whom Elise does not recognise) and her son, Hyrum (Robin Goldsworthy), they are faced with the supernatural possibilities. Under the influence of hallucinogens, Elise begins to shake uncontrollably, as if possessed. Blood starts to spurt from her mouth, Alma performs a ritual that involves extracting a long braid of hair from Elise’s mouth.
The scene is necessarily and unforgettably macabre, elevating the otherwise commonplace nature of the exorcism scene. Phillips’s choice of using makeup and props, instead of CGI, is a prudent one, which does not risk undermining the realism that “Diabolic” is aiming for.
Horror fans will agree: the best scares make the shadows in your room feel sinister. Phillips and cinematographer Michael Tessari excel here, placing the antagonist witch Larue in key scenes with subtle tricks that land both as jump scares and lingering terror. It is, after all, the imagination that constructs the fear way better than a well-defined image would.
From Larue’s first appearance, dread sets in. During Elise’s baptism, we glimpse her shape through Elise’s underwater eyes—not fully, but enough to make her foreboding presence linger. “Diabolic” gives its titular monster the fear it deserves. Throughout, Larue lurks in glimpses or bone-chilling silhouettes in the shadows. So effectively that the story’s flatter moments pass by quickly as we anticipate her next imminent arrival.
Elizabeth Cullen aptly channels the film’s permeating atmospheric disquiet, delivering a memorably anchored central performance. It’s a delicately balanced and yet emphatic act. For the large part of the film, Elise struggles as a general victim of malaise and possession would do. Cullen works with the fragility well.
Additionally, when the time comes for Elise to come out of the shadows to take a bolder and more boisterous role, Cullen does not miss a step in that transformation either. She is quite ably aided by the supporting act of Kim and Challis, who form the central trio that goes through this supernatural ordeal. Special mention for Goldsworthy and Mooey. Goldsworthy, specifically, shines as the timid and yet resolute Hyrum. There is an earnestness in his performance that makes you root for his sad character. And the film is richer for this.
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