‘Abigail Before Beatrice’ Review – An Unsettling Look at the Psychological Impact of Being in a Cult

There are many different reasons why people join cults. Some people feel like their lives are missing something; their childhood and family life might have been dysfunctional; they’re seeking a sense of community; or they’re psychologically vulnerable. For many people, joining a cult leads to exploitation and control, and even psychological or sexual abuse, by the cult leader. They are forced to give up their belongings and cut ties with the people in their lives. In addition to the reasons why people join cults, there is the question of why they choose to stay in a situation that is not fulfilling their needs and instead is usually predatory.

Written and directed by Cassie Keets (Scream Therapy), Abigail Before Beatrice explores the very different experiences of two women, who meet while in a cult, and the lasting effects it has on their lives. Even though the cult has been dissolved, Beatrice (Olivia Taylor Dudley) lives a life of isolation, removed from the world, while Abigail (Riley Dandy) has moved on with her life and started a podcast about what it’s like to be a member of a cult. Concerned about her well-being after news that the leader of the cult is being released from prison, Abigail reaches out to Beatrice to reconnect with her but is met with distrust and hostility. As the two women reflect on their time in the cult, it becomes clear that Beatrice is completely disconnected from reality, culminating in an emotionally charged finale.

Beatrice is barely able to support herself working a job from home selling security systems and wanders through life, lost in her thoughts. We are first introduced to Beatrice working in a garden on a beautiful, sunny day, when she is suddenly confronted by a man, who asks her what she’s doing on his property. She tells him the farm used to be her home but does not initially tell him it was the home of a cult. The man introduces himself as Will (Jordan Lane Shappell) and tells Beatrice that he recently bought the farm and lives there with his young daughter Jillie (Andersyn Van Kuren). Will tells her he is separated from his wife and soon Beatrice becomes friends with them and the three of them begin hanging out together. Will says he can’t pay her, but Beatrice can continue working on the garden, since it seems to bring her happiness. One day, Jillie notices scars on Beatrice’s wrists and when she asks her about them, Beatrice quickly covers her arms and does not answer.

When Abigail reaches out to Beatrice and asks to meet, Beatrice reluctantly agrees to meet at a local coffee shop. Abigail finds Beatrice writing in a journal and when she tells her that the leader of the cult, Grayson (Shayne Herndon), is being released from prison earlier than expected, the two women argue. Beatrice doesn’t believe Grayson should have been in prison, but Abigail reminds her that all the members of the cult witnessed the horrifying incident that led to him being arrested and caused the cult to disband.

Abigail and Beatrice meet while they are members of the cult and quickly become friends. The cult members are all women who are brought to the farm in Arkansas where the cult resides by its leader Grayson. Grayson is charming and soft-spoken and skilled at finding vulnerable women, who are just looking for a place where they feel like they belong and are eager to work on the farm and do whatever their leader asks of them to please him. Grayson thinks of himself as a God and the women do, too. They worship him and are all considered his wives. Even after leaving the cult, Beatrice writes letters to Grayson in her journal and still thinks of him as God-like.

Olivia Taylor Dudley gives a remarkably sincere performance as Beatrice, a woman who is emotionally broken and scarred from her experience in the cult, and who is clearly suffering from PTSD. Riley Dandy does a great job of portraying Abigail as outwardly unaffected, despite experiencing the same traumatic events as Beatrice. William Tanner Sampson’s cinematography is aesthetically appealing and effective. Told in a non-linear way through a combination of flashbacks and the current timeline, the pacing is mostly slow and measured but occasionally loses some of its fluidity and becomes temporarily sluggish at times.

Abigail Before Beatrice is a thought-provoking, unsettling, character-driven story that has some great ideas, like the appeal of cults and reasons people stay in them, but the film could be more effective with a more in-depth exploration of this, as well as similar concepts that are presented but not examined thoroughly enough.

Abigail Before Beatrice premiered at the 2025 Chattanooga Film Festival, which is once again offering a hybrid festival experience this year.

The post ‘Abigail Before Beatrice’ Review – An Unsettling Look at the Psychological Impact of Being in a Cult appeared first on Bloody Disgusting!.