The Other Lamb Movie Review

“The Other Lamb” is an independent feature about a moody and dark place for a woman to exist. The places shown are wonderful scenes, but the people trapped inside this nightmare have no way out. It is a bit of “The Handmaid’s Tale”, taken and stirred with some real-life horrors from inside a weird cult. It is like Jim Jones or David Koresh heading up the ladies in the Amish headgear. But this movie gets deeper into a psychological horror imposed on the women in this ‘religious’ cult. And it ain’t pretty.

There is a small grouping of people in a far away place. And the leader of this cult wants to take them even farther away. There are only women in this small cluster of folks, and they are all lead by the single male in the group. They call him ‘Shepherd’ (Michiel Huisman), as in the leader of the flock. And they all think of him as the ‘Good’ Shepherd. But that thinking is put there by years of brainwashing. Among the females, there are several who wear purple garments (the many ‘Wives’ of the Shepherd). Then there are the groups of much younger females (the ‘Daughters’) who wear blue. These have yet to ‘come into their womanhood’ (as in – reach a menstrual cycle). Among these is a lady named Selah (Raffey Cassidy). She is one of the Daughters, and her mother died in childbirth.

Selah is strong-willed, but she still believes in the Shepherd. But there are situations where she meets with a woman who was shunned from the larger group. Sarah (Denise Gough) was one of Shepherd’s wives, but she has become ‘unclean’ and was put out of the group until she can regain her ‘grace’ – as dispensed by Shepherd. Selah has time to talk with Sarah, and she finds out some of the things that only the older women in the group know about. Something comes up, and the groups are taken by Shepherd away from the place where they have stayed. He wanted to find a new place for all of them – an ‘Eden’. They left because of that good and noble gesture, or because the police where coming around too often.

The group takes everyone with, including the women, the few young children, some sheep and a ram, and a sheepdog. Shepherd takes them far and they must walk all the way. They come near an old abandoned house. Shepherd will not allow anyone stay there. It is because the people who once lived there were ‘broken people’. So they press on. One of the ‘wives’ who is pregnant has to deliver her baby – by the side of a river. The woman dies in childbirth. That was similar to Selah’s mother. Nobody wants to talk about her mother; it is like she never existed. The Shepherd declared there is something wrong with the baby. That child must be abandoned by the riverside. Then he walks away, and starts to lead them further…

Sarah, the one who was ‘unclean’ explains to Selah that there is nothing wrong with the baby. There is only one issue – it is a baby boy. Like the Shepherd says – “There can only be one ram for the flock”. Sarah takes the child and goes back the way that they came. Now with fewer people, the Shepherd is getting more and more disturbing. He berates and snaps when anyone attempts to question him. He treats them all very roughly, and needs them to know that HE is only one in charge. He is the one who will take them to Eden.

They come to a large lake, and Shepherd tells them they have arrived. All the ‘daughters’ get baptized in the crisp clear waters of the lake. The ‘wives’, for them – Shepherd has other plans. He takes them all away and gives then the “Heaven’s Gate” treatment. Selah is the only one to figure out what is going on, and she is the one who can lead the others to stop this madness. Later the police arrive and find some mysterious and unexplained deaths. If they could ever find Selah, and they rest of the flock – maybe they could explain…

“The Other Lamb” is slow moving and plodding movie. The best feature is the wonderful cinematography and the picturesque landscapes. The overall theme and the way it is played out is down-key and depressing. The music also gives it a off-putting feeling to hear the high strings and low cello lines almost fighting for control. The acting is all right, and costumes are fitting – but they seem too much like a rip-off from “Handmaid’s Tale”. The slow and ponderous journey feels just and slow and ponderous for the viewer. You might like that in a movie, but others might like to have a little bit more ‘motion’ mixed in with their ’emotion’.

The overall impression is: It’s an OK place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there. I wouldn’t want to live in Jonestown, either…

Available for online Video-on-Demand starting April 3^rd

THE OTHER LAMB will be opening Friday, April 17th at the Glendale Drive-In Theater in Phoenix. The film is also currently available on cable and digital VOD for rent on the following platforms.

Digital Platforms: iTunes, Amazon, GooglePlay/YouTube, Vudu, PlayStation

Cable Platforms: Comcast Xfinity, Spectrum (Charter, Time Warner, Brighthouse), Verizon Fios, Altice (Optimum), Cox, DirecTV, AT&T, Bend Broadband, Buckeye, Guadalupe Valley, Hotwire Communications, Metrocast, Suddenlink, WOW Internet Cable, RCN, Midcontinent Communications.