The Sacrament (2013)
Storyline
A fashion photographer is traveling to meet his sister at Eden Parish. Once there, his friends begin to film interviews with the Eden Parish inhabitants, all of whom 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.
Directors
Writers
Cast
Shaun Clay, Gene Jones, AJ Bowen, Amy Seimetz, Shawn Parsons, Kate Lyn Sheil, Millie Wannamaker, Joe Swanberg, Helen Rogers, Kentucker Audley, Nick Damici, Madison Absher, Donna Biscoe, Kate Forbes, Derek Roberts, Kris Swanberg, Dale Neal, Conphidance, Christian Ojore Mayfield, Shirley Jones Byrd, Tovin A. Pristell, Talia Dobbins, Dallas Johnson
Trailer
Reviews
80
Variety
It’s a film that purists might insist isn’t horror in the strictest sense, though this slow-burning investigation of unseemly goings-on at a rural Christian commune is frightening in any genre language.
70
It makes savvy use of the well-worn found-footage format, modulating its creepy scenario with considerable skill.
63
With The Sacrament, director Ti West has bitten off more of a premise than his classically modest barebones approach to horror movies can presently chew.
60
Time Out London
As with all of West’s work this is a good-looking, well acted film shot through with moments of real power, but its conventionality is troubling.
60
Village Voice
Restaging the 1978 Jonestown massacre for a present-day suspense movie is by most definitions tasteless, although The Sacrament infuses the past with ghoulish immediacy.
