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We can't have both this and No Ending; the latter is better explained
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* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler: A man who the audience has never seen before shows up to watch Martha swimming and then follows Lucy and Ted's car. Is he a member of the cult? Or is Martha just hallucinating? [[EpilepticTrees Did a cult exist in the first place, or did Martha imagine the whole thing? Is the whole movie symbolism for an abusive relationship?]]]]
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inversion of Dead Alternate Counterpart
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* DeadAlternateCounterpart: InUniverse: The cultists rationalize their apparent murder of someone whose home they were invading by invoking the inversion of this trope.
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In the Back
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* InTheBack: How Katie stabs the homeowner who catches Patrick, Martha and the other two cult members burglarizing his house.
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Even Evil Has Standards
* EvenEvilHasStandards: After another one of the cult's women kills the supposedly sick cat when Martha fails to, Max kills the other cat, only for Patrick to criticize him for doing so so needlessly as the cat he killed was not the sick one.
* EvilPhone: The suggested reason why Martha disconnected the phone (see above)
* EvilPhone: The suggested reason why Martha disconnected the phone (see above)
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* EvilPhone: The suggested reason why Martha disconnected the phone (see above)
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Promotion to Parent
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* PromotionToParent: Lucy to Martha, since it's implied both of their parents died sometime ago. Her handling of the role also seems to have been a past source of friction between them.[[note]]For purposes of the filming, the actresses worked out the backstory between them so they knew exactly what they were talking about, even if it's not elaborated on.[[/note]]
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Foolish Sibling, Responsible Sibling
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* FoolishSiblingResponsibleSibling: This dynamic seems to exist between Lucy and Martha.
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House Pseudonym
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* HousePseudonym: Cult members must identify themselves as either "Marlene Lewis" or "Michael Lewis" when answering the phone.
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Character Title
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* CharacterTitle: Played with by all four names being used at different times for the main character.
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Wakeup Makeup
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* WakeupMakeup: Martha the morning after her FreakOut.
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Phone Tropes
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* CellPhonesAreUseless: At the beginning of the movie, Martha explains her lack of contact with Lucy over the last two years by saying she lost her cell phone and "got used to living without it."[[note]]The director's same-universe short ''Mary Last Seen'' suggests the cult may have stolen and destroyed it as part of her recruitment.[[/note]]. All the other phones we see in the movie are land lines. Justified perhaps by taking place in rural areas that in real life do have rather spotty cell coverage.
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* CutPhoneLines: After Martha calls the cult from Lucy's house and hangs up after a short conversation, the phone rings. Martha immediately disconnects it.
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* EvilPhone: The suggested reason why Martha disconnected the phone (see above)
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Sleeves Are for Wimps
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* SleevesAreForWimps: Patrick often wears just a tank top.
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reckless gun usage
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* RecklessGunUsage: Teaching someone to shoot a a handgun while coming on to them physically and using suggestive terminology really isn't a very good idea. The film sort of lampshades this by having Patrick come into the scene and not only do it more conscientiously but criticize Max in the process.
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Double Entendre
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* DoubleEntendre: Max's instructions to Martha on how to shoot. Lampshaded by the way she's giggling as he does.
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add to Bring My Brown Pants
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* BringMyBrownPants: A particularly explicit example. After flashing back to the time she helped prepare the next new female recruit for Patrick's sexual pleasure, Martha is shown from behind, sleeping the on floor next to the bed, as her nightgown gets wet; when she awakens afterward she takes it off and tries to hide it under the bedsheets. Later dialogue suggests the flashback was a dream she was having.
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* BringMyBrownPants: A particularly explicit example.example (and a rare one where this trope isn't played for laughs). After flashing back to the time she helped prepare the next new female recruit for Patrick's sexual pleasure, Martha is shown from behind, sleeping the on floor next to the bed, as her nightgown gets wet; when she awakens afterward she takes it off and tries to hide it under the bedsheets. Later dialogue (see quote above) suggests the flashback was a dream she was having.
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Freak Out
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* FreakOut: After believing that the bartender at Lucy and Ted's party is one of the cultists, Martha ends their conversation by calling him a liar, smashing a glass, and suddenly carrying on about how she, Lucy and Ted have to leave immediately. They respond by taking her to their bedroom, [[IronicEcho giving her some medication]], and letting her sleep it off.
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Bring my Brown pants
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* BringMyBrownPants: A particularly explicit example. After flashing back to the time she helped prepare the next new female recruit for Patrick's sexual pleasure, Martha is shown from behind, sleeping the on floor next to the bed, as her nightgown gets wet; when she awakens afterward she takes it off and tries to hide it under the bedsheets. Later dialogue suggests the flashback was a dream she was having.
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California Doubling half averted
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* CaliforniaDoubling: Half averted. The scenes with the cult were actually shot at a farm in the Catskills. The scenes at Lucy and Ted's house, while represented as being in Connecticut, were also filmed in the Catskills.
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another fauxshadow
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* {{Fauxshadow}}: [[spoiler: Patrick teaching Martha to fire a gun suggests she [[ChekhovsSkill may need to use a gun again]] at some point (nope). Martha's fondness for swimming in the lake and her sister's caution that the day is quite cold for swimming suggests [[TemptingFate that she might meet a watery end]] (also nope).]]
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* {{Fauxshadow}}: [[spoiler: Patrick teaching Martha to fire a gun suggests she [[ChekhovsSkill may need to use a gun again]] at some point (nope). Martha's fondness for swimming in the lake and her sister's caution that the day is quite cold for swimming suggests [[TemptingFate that she might meet a watery end]] (also nope).]] Her taking up Ted's offer to go out on the boat and learn to drive it suggests she might come on to him (nope)]]
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Psycho strings and Slipping a Mickey
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* PsychoStrings: Slower than usual, under the opening credits.
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* SlippingAMickey: To accomplish the above, new female members are given an herbal drink that, unbeknownst to them, been spiked with sedatives.
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Dinner and a Show
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* DinnerAndAShow: The scene where Ted quizzes Martha about her future plans, or rather the lack thereof, leading to his TheReasonYouSuckSpeech (see below)
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None
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A 2011 independent PsychologicalThriller/HorrorFilm, written and directed by first-timer Sean Durkin and starring Creator/ElizabethOlsen, Creator/JohnHawkes, Creator/SarahPaulson and Hugh Dancy.
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A 2011 independent PsychologicalThriller/HorrorFilm, PsychologicalThriller film, written and directed by first-timer Sean Durkin and starring Creator/ElizabethOlsen, Creator/JohnHawkes, Creator/SarahPaulson and Hugh Dancy.
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None
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A 2011 independent PsychologicalThriller film, written and directed by first-timer Sean Durkin and starring Creator/ElizabethOlsen, Creator/JohnHawkes, Creator/SarahPaulson and Hugh Dancy.
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A 2011 independent PsychologicalThriller film, PsychologicalThriller/HorrorFilm, written and directed by first-timer Sean Durkin and starring Creator/ElizabethOlsen, Creator/JohnHawkes, Creator/SarahPaulson and Hugh Dancy.
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None
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The film was well-received, picking up a directorial award at Sundance. Critics particularly praised the unsettling storyline and the performances by Olsen and Hawkes, with many especially surprised by Olsen's performance, considering who her [[MaryKateAndAshleyOlsen sisters]] are (in his review, RogerEbert quipped that "Elizabeth Olsen can know that no one will ever ask, 'Which one is she?'").
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The film was well-received, picking up a directorial award at Sundance. Critics particularly praised the unsettling storyline and the performances by Olsen and Hawkes, with many especially surprised by Olsen's performance, considering who her [[MaryKateAndAshleyOlsen sisters]] are (in his review, RogerEbert Creator/RogerEbert quipped that "Elizabeth Olsen can know that no one will ever ask, 'Which one is she?'").
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None
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A 2011 independent PsychologicalThriller film, written and directed by first-timer Sean Durkin and starring Elizabeth Olsen, Creator/JohnHawkes, Creator/SarahPaulson and Hugh Dancy.
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A 2011 independent PsychologicalThriller film, written and directed by first-timer Sean Durkin and starring Elizabeth Olsen, Creator/ElizabethOlsen, Creator/JohnHawkes, Creator/SarahPaulson and Hugh Dancy.
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Hiding spoilers.
Changed line(s) 25 (click to see context) from:
* GainaxEnding: A man who the audience has never seen before shows up to watch Martha swimming and then follows Lucy and Ted's car. Is he a member of the cult? Or is Martha just hallucinating? [[EpilepticTrees Did a cult exist in the first place, or did Martha imagine the whole thing? Is the whole movie symbolism for an abusive relationship?]]
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* GainaxEnding: [[spoiler: A man who the audience has never seen before shows up to watch Martha swimming and then follows Lucy and Ted's car. Is he a member of the cult? Or is Martha just hallucinating? [[EpilepticTrees Did a cult exist in the first place, or did Martha imagine the whole thing? Is the whole movie symbolism for an abusive relationship?]]relationship?]]]]
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Moved from YMMV
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* NoEnding: [[spoiler: We don't ever find out if the cult is real, if the man following them is a cultist, if he tries to attack them, if he follows them so the cult can come after Martha later, if she ever gets over her obvious mental health issues, if she ever tells her sister what is going on, or if she ever repairs her relationship with her sister (assuming she isn't killed by the cult). If the cult is real we also don't see if they eventually get shut down over the murder, rape, and implied infanticide. If it isn't real we have one clue (a fragment of an excuse about a boyfriend) as to what might have really happened to Martha and nothing else. It would be as if BlackSwan had ended twenty minutes earlier, mid-scene.]]
** Arguably, this is the overall point of the film. The true focus of the story is Martha showing, admitting and eventually seeking help for her mental problems, rather than Martha running away from the cult.
** Arguably, this is the overall point of the film. The true focus of the story is Martha showing, admitting and eventually seeking help for her mental problems, rather than Martha running away from the cult.
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None
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* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The cult is loosely inspired by the [[UsefulNotes/CharlesManson Manson "family"]]. This is primarily in terms of the family's recruitment methods and the activities they carried out together, and less in terms of their beliefs - Patrick makes no mention of possessing any racially-oriented beliefs, for example. Patrick himself is practically an {{Expy}} of Manson: like Manson, Patrick is a folk guitarist, and JohnHawkes bears more than a passing resemblance to the man himself.
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* VeryLooselyBasedOnATrueStory: The cult is loosely inspired by the [[UsefulNotes/CharlesManson Manson "family"]]. This is primarily in terms of the family's recruitment methods and the activities they carried out together, and less in terms of their beliefs - Patrick makes no mention of possessing any racially-oriented beliefs, for example. Patrick himself is practically an {{Expy}} of Manson: like Manson, Patrick is a folk guitarist, and JohnHawkes Creator/JohnHawkes bears more than a passing resemblance to the man himself.
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None
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* MonochromeCasting: Every character is white, although this may be in keeping with the racial demographics of the setting (primarily the Catskills Mountains).
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* MonochromeCasting: Every character is white, although this may be in keeping with the racial demographics of the setting (primarily the Catskills Mountains).white.
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None
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A 2011 independent PsychologicalThriller film, written and directed by first-timer Sean Durkin and starring Elizabeth Olsen, JohnHawkes, Sarah Paulson and Hugh Dancy.
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A 2011 independent PsychologicalThriller film, written and directed by first-timer Sean Durkin and starring Elizabeth Olsen, JohnHawkes, Sarah Paulson Creator/JohnHawkes, Creator/SarahPaulson and Hugh Dancy.
