Jenna Walter The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

Billie Morin This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Kinley This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

Francene Odetta It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

Bryan Kluger The year 1969 was a special one. It was a turbulent time for sure in the world, where in the USA, a ton of people rebelled against the government and big business to create peace through sex, drugs and rock n' roll. Needless to say, Woodstock, one of the biggest music concerts took place in 1969. Not only that, film impacted tons of people of all ages back in the late 60s and early 70s in the form of change. Whether it was political, religious, societal, or cultural redesign; most people were embracing this change, and movies helped a bit in leading that bandwagon.One of the forgotten films from the late 60s was a film called 'Angel, Angel, Down We Go', however it is now called 'Cult of the Damned'. Probably a good move, since this film needs all the help it can get to keep people interested, despite Lou Rawls and Roddy McDowall starring in the movie. In fact, director Robert Thom and actress Jennifer Jones had more interesting lives than this film, but that's besides the point.This was the only film Thom ever directed, but he did go on to write a few of the 'Death Race' films along with a few other B-movies. Jennifer Jones was actually married to big time producer David O. Selznick (King Kong) until his death, where she attempted suicide and was found unconscious at the bottom of a cliff. Her daughter then committed suicide by jumping out of a 20-story window. It's a very sad story, but this film 'Cult of the Damned' was the first film Jones did after her attempted suicide, so I imagine she had quite a few things going through her head that she could relate to in the film.The film follows a young girl named Tara (Holly Near) who we see as a child at the start of the film. Her father Willy (Charles Aidman) a wealthy airplane businessman who has a sexual secret and her mother Astrid (Jennifer Jones), a free-spirited adult film star send their daughter off to a commune where she can be a free spirit. Time goes by and Tara ends up at a boarding school where she is taught ethics and manners, which her free-loving parents might not be happy about.In order to have their daughter be socially acceptable and free-thinking, they throw her a party where a rock-star named Bogart (Jordan Christopher) takes a liking to the young girl. Bogart comes with his bandmates as well, which include Lou Rawls and Roddy McDowall. Bogart and his bandmates have a sinister plan though. They aim to tear this family apart piece by piece, by manipulating everyone into despair. Bogart uses extreme sports and sex to lure his victims in, and when Tara is no longer paying attention to him, he sets his sights on Astrid. 'Cult of the Damned' has a good set up, although it's one we've seen before. I take it that Thom wanted to show us the temptation of the sex, drugs, and rock n' roll, and how a young girl had to struggle with that along with her insane home life and unorthodox relationship with her parents. It's hard to believe that anyone would follow or listen to this slime ball of character in Bogart, as he seems to be a budget Jim Morrison of The Doors. That and the fact that this movie runs at a snail's pace, ultimately bring down the whole experience. 'Cult of the Damned' is intended to shock you, but falls short.

MartinHafer The late 1960s brought the world a lot of trippy psychedelic films, though one of the trippiest and strangest must be "Angel, Angel Down We Go". To say it's bizarre, amateurish and silly would be a great understatement. I would go so far as to wonder if anyone NOT intoxicated has even enjoyed this film.Despite being immensely wealthy, the Steele family is hopelessly screwed up and hypocritical. Dad is a wimp, mom an ex-porn actress and their chunky daughter is pretty much on her own--and seems to ease her pain and emptiness with food. The family announces to the daughter that they're having a coming-out party for her, but it's really just an excuse for the mother (Jennifer Jones) to prance about and hope that everyone admires her beauty. While she looks her 50 years in some ways, I must admit that Jones' figure was amazing in the film--and you end up seeing more of it than you'd expect considering she ONCE was a star. As for the daughter, she's miserable at the party but connects up with the musical act that performed for the party. The leader is named 'Bogey' and is a charismatic and devilish guy--and he has four little disciples who follow him everywhere--even though NOTHING Bogey says makes any sense at all. She joins this little cult and they hang about saying profound things that make no sense, go skydiving and have sex. Later, to scare the girl's parents, the gang drops in and behaves like they are strung out on LSD--which I assume they were. If you think all this is headed somewhere and there is significance to it, don't bother. It all just goes on and on and on--and never makes any sense.Aside from an incomprehensible story, the film features some really weird artsy camera-work with random pictures inserted throughout the film, a sprinkling of nudity, homosexual references, dialog that seldom makes sense, comments about the sexual prowess of black men, child sexual abuse, a lady sleeping on the ceiling and MANY actors who later must have regretted doing this film. Aside from Jones, Roddy McDowall and Lou Rawls (yes THAT Lou Rawls) star in the film.By the way, if you are wondering why a star like Jennifer Jones did such as god-awful film, my guess is because she and her husband (the recently deceased David O. Selznick) went through bankruptcy when his films started losing money. I can only assume she had to take ANY work she could find--and this would definitely fall into the category of ANY. In fact, it might just be the most embarrassing film by a once-great Hollywood star. Mae West's necrophilic performance in "Myra Breckenridge" and Burgess Meredith's nude scenes in "Such Good Friends" might possibly be a bit worse, but neither ever were respected A-list stars like Jones. And, neither could boast that they had once won an Oscar.As one of the reviewers said, when this film debuted, David O. Selznick must have been rolling in his grave!

nisiimperasset These IMDb comments intrigued me enough to order this, but the film as a whole is a mess that left me tired. A few scenes stand out--I actually sort of dug the music, and Jordan Christopher shirtless and in leather pants as Bogart is easy on the eyes. Despite her top billing, Jennifer Jones simply isn't in the film much at all, and while she seems attractively well preserved, her closeups are filmed through Vaseline and she wears yards of billowing fabric in most of her costumes, so it's hard to say. I thought it was funny that when she finally hooks up with Bogart she cries out "I'm 50!" (her actual age when this was filmed). The references to Tara, "Gone with the Wind," and Jones' reaction to it all are interesting but muted. For all the drama of the advertising, this film was surprisingly plain and underwhelming. The trippy cutaways to hallucinations are overdone, but worth watching at least once.

Lubin Odana I recommend that this is watched on a double-bill with Wild in the Streets, also written by Robert Thom. Both films contain similarities - a Messiah-like pop star with pretensions for a new social order, overbearing parents, LSD sequences, pop music, alternative forms of sexuality, camp and "established" actresses freaking out.This film is like being in a long trance - there's so much imagery and symbolism that you'll need to watch it three or four times before it starts to make sense.It's a little nihilistic for my liking, but well worth watching - Jennifer Jones gets to call her maid a sadistic lesbian, her husband appears in the first scene naked in the shower with his young male friend, while the daughter's voice-over says "My first memory is that my parents were perfect." There's all sorts of weird stuff like the cast taking a walk along Santa Monica Beach and Jennifer Jones buying candyfloss with her jewellery and then discarding it.The songs are reasonably good too, especially The Fat Song, Bloody Mama (also another Robert Thom film) and Angel, Angel Down We Go. This is one freaked out movie. I love it!