The Afflicted

The events unfold in modern times, over a short span after a teenager's sixteenth birthday. The social backdrop includes a local televangelist and a family facing financial and emotional strain. The era’s issues—domestic strife, media-influenced faith, and alcohol—frame the narrative.

The primary setting is the family home within a quiet, small-town environment. The house acts as a pressure cooker where fear and control escalate into brutal acts. The surrounding town and church community provide a backdrop that heightens the sense of isolation inside the home.

🩸 Abuse

The film centers on Maggie's escalating brutality within the family, with Hank's murder acting as the catalyst for a wider cycle of control and fear. The domestic space becomes a weaponized environment where love, blame, and survival collide. The narrative examines how power imbalances and coercion fracture family bonds and perpetuate violence.

🙏 Religious manipulation

The Cowboy Prophet figure demonstrates how vulnerability can be exploited for influence and money. Maggie's devotion to the televangelist magnifies her control over the family and justifies abusive acts. The film shows faith being weaponized to manufacture consent and silence dissent. The tension between genuine faith and exploitative manipulation runs through the story's core.

🧠 Trauma

Maggie's mental health decline—shut-in behavior, alcoholism, and mania—drives much of the family's violence. The children bear the brunt of the abuse, with Cathy suffering physical harm and Carla's death. The trauma reverberates through generations, shaping responses with fear, guilt, and fatal outcomes. The ending underscores how unaddressed trauma can escalate into irreversible consequences.

⚖️ Violence & consequence

Violence compounds as coercion and abuse permeate the household, dragging multiple characters into criminal acts. The culminating events—Hank's murder, Cathy and Carla's deaths, Grace's retaliation, and Bill's murder—highlight the film's bleak meditation on culpability and the cost of silence. The narrative emphasizes the futility of revenge and the heavy price paid by bystanders. The grim finale leaves a sense of moral ambiguity about responsibility and justice.