The film stars Mary Elizabeth Winstead, Leland Orser, Jon Gries, Beth Grant, Chris Ellis and Lance Reddick.
[1] Ansel Roth, a writer and cult specialist, fraudulently uses an expired voucher to pay for a meal at a hotel restaurant and is forcibly removed when discovered.
Evelyn and Paul approach Roth and request an autographed copy of his book for their daughter, Claire, who has become involved in Faults, a mysterious cult.
Roth offers to deprogram Claire, a process that involves abducting her and confronting her with the truth about the cult.
Roth delivers partial payment to Terry, who berates him for being so submissive, strikes him with a paperweight, and demands the rest of the money in two days.
When he brings her back inside, her parents say she was locked in the bathroom; Claire claims to have teleported herself using meditation techniques learned from the cult.
[2] He also stated that the interest came when he watched an episode of Cops when he was a child, in which "a girl called the police and was like, 'I'm locked in this hotel room and they're not letting me out.'
[3] The film was shot in 18 days in the Los Angeles area (Long Beach and San Pedro).
[11] On August 26, it was reported that Screen Media Films had picked up Faults for theatrical release on March 6, 2015[1] and to run on Video on demand.
The website's critics consensus reads, "Faults explores the cult dynamic to fascinating effect, bolstered by an outstanding cast and sharp work from writer-director Riley Stearns.
"[13] Many reviewers commended the film's off-kilter black comedy that underlies the plot; The Hollywood Reporter says, "Faults is not what it seems.
[14] In a 4.5/5 review, Bloody Disgusting calls it "a modern cult thriller [... that] manages to be laugh out loud funny in a manner that doesn't even come close to undercutting its central objective".
[3] IndieWire's writeup that gives it a grade of B+ praises the film's cast, saying "Much of the odd comedic formula emerges from a pair of carefully orchestrated lead performances".