The Sacrament is a 2013 American found footage horror thriller film directed by Ti West (The Innkeepers, House of the Devil) and produced by Eli Roth. The movie had its world premiere on September 3, 2013 at the Venice Film Festival and will have a wide theatrical release on May 1, 2014. The movie’s plot takes several elements from real life events such as the Jonestown Massacre of 1978 (previously filmed as Guyana: Crime of the Century aka Guyana: Cult of the Damned).
Plot:
Patrick (Kentucker Audley) is a fashion photographer traveling to meet his sister Caroline (Amy Seimetz) at Eden Parish, the commune she’s been living at since she left her drug rehabilitation program. Despite some misgivings over his sister’s vagueness over the commune’s location, Patrick travels to the commune with his friends and co-workers Sam (AJ Bowen) and Jake (Joe Swanberg), who suspect that they might get a story out of the travels. Once there, Patrick is met by his sister, who is happier and healthier than she has been in a while. His friends begin to film interviews with Eden Parish’s inhabitants, all of which speak of the commune in glowing terms. However they soon discover that there is a sinister edge to the commune that belies the seemingly peaceful setting…
Reviews:
“The film’s intelligence extends to its strong but suitably modest tech package, with the narrative involvement of Vice providing an alibi for Eric Robbins’ fluid, generously lit lensing; most films in the found-footage genre have no reason to look this good. Jade Healy’s production design is a particular asset, visually conveying the camp’s spartan, faux-organic principles with absolute authenticity. Sound design, as ever with the helmer’s work, is tack-sharp, as is Tyler Bates’ spooky score — even if it occasionally seems to have crept in from one of West’s more retro efforts.” Guy Lodge, Variety
” … if you sit down prepared to be a little bit patient (it’s not even a very long movie!) there’s a good chance you’ll appreciate the mystery, the suspense, the shocks, and the payoffs that The Sacrament has to offer. With all due respect to The Innkeepers and House of the Devil — two very good thrillers — The Sacrament may be Ti West’s angriest, cleverest, and most accomplished feature yet.” Scott Weinberg, Fearnet
“If you know anything about the saga of Jim Jones, you know where “The Sacrament” is headed. It’s an unfortunate familiarity that West makes no effort to avoid, instead recreating the horrors that urged the Jonestown community into the afterlife. The picture is violent, a necessary cinematic pressure to capture despair, yet West lingers on the suffering, studying a man gasping for life as he’s poisoned to death, while showing a little girl getting her throat slit by her mother. It’s gratuitous, especially when it becomes clear that the film isn’t going anywhere original with its overview of brutal self-sacrifice, instead lingering the details of awful deaths. “The Sacrament” bottoms out in its second half, with West too paralyzed by the particulars of his inspiration to craft an innovative take on a horrifying event in human history.” Brian Orndorf, Blu-ray.com
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