The Sacrament Reviews

Ti West has made somewhat of a name for himself as a purveyor of excellent slow-burn horror cinema over the years. Though he has on occasion ventured outside of those genre constraints it seems that he always finds his strength in the embrace of the macabre. With "The Sacrament" West mixes his trademark methodical pacing with a faux documentary device to give us a peek into one of the world's most horrifying events.

Little is done to pull the wool over the viewer's eyes and hide the parallels to the Jonestown Massacre. Quite the contrary, it revels in tapping into familiar touchstones of the near mythological status of that tragedy. Though it is never outright beholden to the truth, the film manages to foment a steadily increasing sense of impending doom by sheer nature of audience expectation. It does this so expertly that one could argue that the film is rigged to work solely by what we, the audience, already know happened in a historical context. Exchanges, characters, dialogue, and visual cues carry with them the shadow of dread even at their most unassuming. We all know where this ends and, like the antagonist, we are paranoid of everything because of it.

Ah yes, the antagonist. A film is only as good as its villain and this one seeks to capture the essence of one of the most controversial figures of the 70's. Jim Jones, for all his demons, was a charismatic man that shepherded hundreds into a divergent faith, forward unto new horizons, and eventually toward death. He was also a man who believed his own brand of the gospel and saw opposition to that at every turn. He was a hypnotic and persuasive speaker whose honey-coated tongue could, at a turn, dart like that of a serpent. He was seen as savior by some and as a devil by others. These, as you can imagine, are big shoes to fill cinematically.

Casting Gene Jones as "Father", this film's analog of Jim Jones, was the keystone to this story. Despite his frail exterior, Father carries himself with towering confidence. His first appearance onscreen is met with a sense of awe not only from his congregation but from the audience. The conversation that follows shifts from warm and disarming to icily ominous. The change is affected with such fluid ease that it's almost imperceptible until you're in the thick of an insinuated threat. Indeed, Father is presented as a cunning manipulator but one you can see people fawning over without protest. His influence and presence is felt pervasively even when he's not onscreen and, perhaps most disturbingly, he always feels genuine in what he says. In Father's eyes he is a hero, his people are his family, and anyone that dares change that dynamic is a foe.

The terror hits hard and viscerally when it does come. Like Jim Jones, Father's deeds beg for answers that those outside of his influential grasp can't ever fully comprehend. In truth, no supernatural boogeyman can come close to the horrors of real life. Adding to this sense of realism is the aforementioned faux documentary device the film employs. Framed as a document culled from the footage of an immersive documentary, the film appropriately sets out to take the viewer into the thick of it with its almost meta approach. The results are credible because the setup is credible. The character motivations allow for the oft-maligned device to work in favor of the film's intention, to make you a front-line witness to the lives of people living with unbound devotion and, conversely, fearful doubt towards a singular man.

"The Sacrament" is an underappreciated film. It virtually quakes with an underlying menace throughout. It is subtle, it sneaks up on you, and then it rears its ugly head up before biting you savagely but, unlike most films, you went into this one knowing you were going to get bitten...and how...and by who. Yet there you are, dreading the horrors that are visited upon the weak-minded. Gene Jones as Father alone is worth watching "The Sacrament" but, thankfully, the film as a whole rises up to the task. Far be it for me to wish good tidings on a cult but I do hope that the cult following for this film grows as the years go on. Highly recommended. 8.5/10

I enjoy Ti West and think he is an underrated horror director. It seems that the main cast all worked together before with each other and with Ti West. It's funny that this is a movie about cults and I'm pretty sure this will only get a cult following and live under the radar. The tone of the film is creepy and for the majority of the film nothing too interesting really happens to be honest. Who would have thought "Fix Me Jesus" could give off an uncomfortable vibe. Things elevate rather slowly, but once the juicy bit starts it gets kind of brutal and intense. It's a pretty interesting watch and doesn't fit Ti West's normal kind of filmmaking. It could have been much better if it was a fuller movie and tried to captivate from the beginning. Most of the characters had no development and it felt like they were just there to be a body count. Yes the sense of dread and uncomfortableness rises through the film, but most people who would view this will find it exhausting waiting for the pay off.