Soho Horror Film Festival 2024 Coverage
Pater Noster and the Mission of Light review
A low budget psychedelic blood feast
Festival reviews will not contain spoilers.
Pater Noster and the Mission of Light
Directed by Christopher Bickel
Written by Christopher Bickel
Starring Adara Starr, Mika Amason, Joshua R. Outzen, Sanethia Dresch, Morgan Shaley Renew and Shelby Lois Guinn
Pater Noster and the Mission of Light Review
There is a brief message at the end of Pater Noster and the Mission of Light that informs the viewer that it was produced for “the price of a used car”. It marks the final surprise in a film chock full of them. I’m not talking about narrative surprises…the story of Pater Noster is fairly straightforward for a tale about a deadly hippie commune. I’m talking about more macro level surprises. Surprises like…performances, style, gore level, music…things that add up to making Pater Noster and the Mission of Light a wonderful surprise in its own right.
Max (Adara Starr) is a vinyl fanatic. When a rare record crosses her path…she falls down a dangerous rabbit hole chasing down the band’s collection. Four albums find their way into her possession. The ultra-rare fifth and final record is believed to be cursed. When the band, full of hippies who vanished in the late-70s, contacts her to arrange a meeting…Max and her friends find themselves in deadly peril.
The first act of Pater Noster and the Mission of Light is a genuinely funny workplace comedy. Max works at a record shop…dealing with customers and hanging with friends. It’s a likable group. When a customer brings a rare Pater Noster album to her attention…she begins her quest to acquire a copy for herself. She finds more than just a copy at a local thrift store. Ten bucks buys her multiple copies of four of their rare printings…and a mysterious phone call.
Max and the gang chat with local drummer, and fellow Pater Noster enthusiast, Jay Sin (Joshua R. Outzen) …who leads them to a DJ with a lot of lore to drop on us in quick order. The fifth Pater Noster album is rumored to be cursed…and only has a handful of copies in the world. The group disappeared long ago. The phone call Max receives is the first anyone has heard from them in decades. A second phone call comes with an invitation too good for Max to turn down. A meeting with Pater Noster and the Mission of Light.
It was a one-person invite…but the hippie band/cult is nothing if not accommodating. Max is joined by Jay as well as friends Abby (Sanethia Dresch), Sam (Morgan Shaley Renew) and Gretchen (Shelby Lois Guinn). If you read the part about the level of gore…you will not be surprised to learn that this trip is a bad idea. They arrive at the group’s compound with dreams of meeting the reclusive band and, perhaps, finding that elusive cursed album. They won’t all be making it home.
Regardless of budget, Pater Noster and the Mission of Light is full of style. It feels like a fever dream…its characters walking around in constant drugged states. The movie doesn’t take long to turn violent. Group members are easily isolated from each other so that the cult members can have their bloody way with them. The climax becomes an absolute blood bath. Or, perhaps, blood orgy would be more accurate. The persistent style and expert pacing of the story overcome any budgetary issues that Pater Noster and the Mission of Light may have had. The gore looks good…and it is plentiful.
The cast is excellent too. Adara Starr is an incredibly likable lead. She has a very short filmography which makes her turn as Max even more impressive. Her friends are fully formed characters of their own. They’ll still be treated as disposable once the murdering begins…but they have more depth than a standard slasher story. The hippies are effectively strange and dangerous. Led by an aged Pater Noster (Mike Amason), they form a proper blood cult. Bathing in the blood they spill.
We even get some fun musical moments out of the journey. Music, blood, comedy…Pater Noster and the Mission of Light has a little bit of everything in store for the you. All roads lead to a brutal, nightmarish climax. The movie doesn’t reinvent the narrative wheel…but it does find some uniquely entertaining ways to tell its story. It looks and feels fresher than the story ultimately is. But the result is a fun ride through a psychedelic nightmare while pursued by a hippie cult. What more could you want?
Scare Value
Pater Noster and the Mission of Light is a total success. A great cast of characters are served up to a demonic alter. It’s bloody. It’s wild. More importantly, it’s really, really good. When a missing hippie cult purported to have recorded a cursed record invite you to their commune…you’re probably better off giving that trip a pass.
