Mara Childs (Alice Englert) and Dilly (Kaitlyn Dever) are friends in rural Appalachia. Mara's father Pastor Lemuel Childs (Walton Goggins) leads a Pentecostal church which worships with venomous snakes. She is pressed into marrying Garret (Lewis Pullman) but she is hiding a secret with Augie (Thomas Mann). Parishioners, Zeke (Jim Gaffigan) and Hope Slaughter (Olivia Colman),are Augie's parents.

This movie sets up a place. It has great actors. They are doing some good work but the story is too precious with the central secret. It also needs to amp up the intensity with an earlier snake bite. Maybe Lemuel could be bitten right off the bat. This church should be a more intense affair. The story feels under-cooked. If only the secret is revealed much earlier. It also needs Augie's voice during the climax. Jim Gaffigan takes the premise to a silly place which left me shaking my head. It feels like they are making fun of these characters. I do like the potential of this world and these actors. The story does need some reworking.

This is a slow burn drama about a community of isolated snake handlers. Mara (Alice Englert) is the daughter of "take up the serpent" preacher (Walton Goggins). Like most people, everyone is wrong but them when it comes to religion and they don't understand why the government takes away their poisonous snakes. Mara has issues. She is devoted to her faith. She is pregnant by one boy and marries another without telling anyone. As secrets unravel, the film picks up.

Guide: No F-word. Brief rape. No nudity.

Going by the title I thought I would watch a horror movie but it turns out to be a movie about God worshipping lunatics. So all in all it actually turns out to be a horror movie, or at least to me, as I'm a convinced atheist and there's nothing more disturbing to me than religion, any kind of religion. That being said you get the picture, it isn't a horror movie, but it's a watchable movie, a movie I did enjoy as I always have a fascination for watching crazy people. The story could be unreal to a normal sain person but the fact that this happens sometimes makes it interesting to watch. The cast wasn't bad either so that's a bonus.