ShangLuda
Admirable film.
Beystiman
It's fun, it's light, [but] it has a hard time when its tries to get heavy.
StyleSk8r
At first rather annoying in its heavy emphasis on reenactments, this movie ultimately proves fascinating, simply because the complicated, highly dramatic tale it tells still almost defies belief.
Erica Derrick
By the time the dramatic fireworks start popping off, each one feels earned.
MattBirk
A slow burn horror movie that builds up atmosphere and dread, The Sacrament is a wild ride! This is a movie that demands a developed attention span because it slowly builds up the setting before the climatic 3rd act. I went into the movie knowing nothing about the real life events of 'Jonestown', which made this a very welcomed surprise. It's crazy to see how someone can manipulate people and basically convince them of anything you tell them. You may know where the movie is heading, but you don't necessarily know how they get to that point and that's what makes the movie exciting.The ending definitely does not shy away from the brutality of the story and more than makes up for the intensity of those events. My only real complaint is about the ending where guns come into play and sort of complicate things. They are obviously there as a reason to put the main characters in immediate danger, but it felt out of place to me.Outside of that, if you don't know anything about 'Jonestown', this will certainly be a pleasant surprise. It immediately inspired me to look into the real events which the movie was based on, which is a great thing for a movie accomplish.
Nick Walker
Shot well, great cinematography. Steady, solid story, though it can get a bit wonky at times (as a found footage film, there were sometimes more camera angles than cameras).So that's the good out of the way. The problem lies in the "scary" part of the film. It's essentially the Jonestown Massacre. About half the film or so consists of the mass suicide, showing the effects of cyanide poisoning from start to finish, with some gory gunshot suicides for effect. The other half is literally a VICE- style documentary which gives us the back story.(As a side note, this adequately satisfies two FF requirements: why the camera is there, and why the people are still filming as dangerous events transpire.)But the deaths feel voyeuristic, and it left me uncomfortable. The way it was treated was almost... gleeful, at times. You cannot shake the fact that this stuff actually happened. The filmmakers (Ti West, who I usually adore, and Eli Roth, torture porn peddler) expect us to flop around in the death with them. It made me feel queasy. The movie makes a point to tell us the victims are the downtrodden, and they have nothing to live for outside the commune. Why spend a good twenty minutes on closeups of them realizing they've been tricked into dying?Ugh. Still. Shot well, clever premise for FF, and a great performance from everyone (except the lead VICE guys, I just didn't feel it with them). Just a little too gleeful about real-life tragedy. This kind of stuff, I thought, was supposed to be fantasy. When it gets too real... I guess gore/horror has an uncanny valley of its own.
MrGKB
...and even that doesn't typically besmirch the reputation of the painter, in this case writer/director Ti "V/H/S" West. It's almost hard to believe that "The Sacrament" came from the same guy who gave us "The House of the Devil," a far superior slow-burn creeper. Only viewers who've no clue about the Jonestown Massacre in the late 70s will take "The Sacrament" as anything more than a cheap fictionalization of that event, and West's choice of the "found footage" format does little to illuminate what brought hundreds of people to commit mass suicide on the orders of a tyrannical charismatic madman. The result is unsurprising revelation that can be seen coming a mile away. Disappointing, to say the least. Go for it if you must, but don't say you weren't warned that you'll wish you hadn't. I give you my sacred promise that you have been.
Lazar George
I've seen people mentioning the Jonestown Mass murder and how close the events in this movie are to that. I personally wasn't aware of it but after watching the movie I've documented myself about it and yes... if you've heard about Jonestown, then watching this movie is just a fictional visual representation of what happened there. Sorry.Regadless, the case was interesting and the movie will most likely get a grip on most people as it makes you more and more curious towards what's really going on. As I've mentioned in the title, the story was credible, the tension building up was also there and done right and from the moment they get to Eden Parish (the community where the events in the movie take place) until things went haywire, you just feel there's something extremely eerie and sketchy about it all. The acting was pretty much great, the guy who was supposed to be the interviewer (AJ Bowen) really had this VICE interviewer personality, the Father (antagonist) was also astonishing both in acting and speaking and mostly every other smaller actor in the movie felt like professionals. Everyone BUT Joe Swanberg (the camera guy). I have nothing against him personally, I do not know him, but you will also probably notice what I'm talking about by the end of the movie. It might be the script too, but I personally found he's acting bad enough. By the end of the movie you'll feel pretty angry with the events and if you're 'lucky' to know about Jonestown too, seeing this on screen will make you become even more upset knowing that such things actually happened. Great small flick, definitely worth giving a shot. I only hoped the ending was a bit more elaborate and intelligent.
