Who doesn’t love a story about cults? Part of their appeal, other than watching people do creepy stuff in picturesque locations, comes from the viewer thinking: “Sure, I’ve made mistakes, but at least I’ve never taken orders from a maniac ranting about enlightenment.”
The Clearing, the first Australian original scripted series from Disney+, is eerier than your average production involving oddly compelling leaders and ritual-following disciples, in that the story involves targeting children. After an opening shot of a woman being submerged in a mist-covered lake, series co-director Jeffrey Walker segues to the chilling roadside abduction of an eight-year-old girl, Sara (Lily LaTorre). She’s taken to Blackmarsh, a property in rural Victoria, and forced into a cult led by the charismatic and debonair Adrienne (Miranda Otto), who aspires to raise children who are “pure and untainted … away from the suffocating rules of society”.
