Really enjoyed it

Here's a basic rundown...

The filmmakers receive a postcard asking them to come visit their friend who has been part of this cult/commune in Montana (I think) for awhile (a couple of years, I think). The postcard says that the commune "needs their help." They're worried about their friend so they decide to go.

They arrive and the cult is very Burning Man'ish (there are numerous references to Burning Man throughout the film. Most of the cult members are friendly, though a few are a little bit hostile, mostly in a passive-aggressive way. There filmmakers are told to avoid this nearby cave because there are snakes there and there's been a cave-in.

Much of the movie is just the filmmakers getting integrated into the community, meeting various members of the cult, etc... Occasionally, people get sick and pass out, though it is attributed to the heat.

The film works hard to make you think the cult is eventually going to turn on the filmmakers and kill them or sacrifice them. There's nothing super overt, but lots of subtle suggestions that lead you to believe this might be the case. As a viewer, you're kind of expecting it to play out like Ti West's "The Sacrament" (which is basically just the Jonestown story).

Instead, what happens is that after a few weeks of earning the cult members' trust (and on a night when much of the cult is participating in drug-fueled rave/party), some of the cult leaders take them up to the cave and show them the reason why they were asked to come visit. In the cave floor there is a large t-rex skull and it is emanating a high-pitched noise. They tell the filmmakers that they uncovered the t-rex skull awhile back but it was causing some of the cult members to become sick and the more of it they uncovered, the louder the high pitched noise is getting. Everyone returns to the party.

The next day, it is discovered that one of the female cult members has gone missing. They search the camp for her without success. Then one of the filmmakers remembers that he had a camera set-up on the cave entrance and they check the footage. They see the woman get undressed, walk into the cave and then there is a bright flash (or maybe two). They return to the cave and cannot find the woman but see that one of the teeth of the t-rex skull is glowing (it is made to look like there is a crystal inside it).

They return to the camp and several people are violently ill --- puking, sweating, passing out, etc... There is a real sense of panic at this point. There is lots of talk/discussion about a "dream" that some (15) of the cult members have been having. All of the same cult members are the ones getting sick. It is revealed that the cult leader and one of the women were friends as kids and both had the same dream (he realized this when he saw her drawing a picture of the dream). Over time, they met other people who had the same dream at Burning Man and via web sites, blogs, etc... and many of these people have joined the cult.

EDIT: the timeline above is slightly mixed-up. They look for the missing woman first, then people get sick and talk about the dream, then they discover the footage of her going into the cave and visit the cave.

The dream was something about a bear-like being that doesn't have genitals, nipples, belly-button, etc... The people having the dream describe the being as a mentor and one woman says "it services us" (not sure what that is supposed to mean). The dreamers feel like they have been with the being for eons and then one day it lays down and dies. As it decomposes, instead of revealing bear bones it leaves a t-rex skull with ancient etchings in its teeth.

Eventually, everyone gets to bed (they never find the missing woman). The next morning they wake up to find that all of the dreamers are disappeared. The filmmakers race to the cave and this is where it got a little confusing for me. One of the camera guys says "its empty." You can still see the imprint of the t-rex skull but I'm not sure if the skull itself is gone or still there. Not sure if "its empty" was a reference to the skull or the missing people.

They race back to the camp and check the footage again from the camera trained on the cave opening. It shows the missing woman emerging from the cave naked. She walks to the camp and starts touching certain yurts (tent-like structures where the cult-members live). From the yurts that are touched, the dreamers emerge and stare at the cave opening. Then, they disrobe and walk into the cave where you see a single flash.

And that's how it ends.

this is basically how i felt. i wouldn't say i wasted 1 hour of my life, but it sort of feels that way.

This film follows the same general design of most found footage/mockumentary type films, in that it starts out slow and the most important things happen towards the end. Movies like this also are almost always open-ended. So I guess I wasn't disappointed with the pacing as I'm used to it.

That being said, while I don't need everything spelled out, but I wish that we would have gotten a bit more on the dreams and the t-rex skull.