There is a new community of horror film-makers, a collective mind if you will, that is taking the genre forward into new territory or reverently expanding on familiar, traditional themes. It would be lovely to think of gang leader Eli Roth hosting invitation only parties where the chosen few watched classic horror films and drank tequila. Potential head honcho Roth is credited at the beginning of Ti West’s new film The Sacrament and despite the varying quality of some early “Eli Roth presents…” fare; there is now a standard, a safety in the knowledge that films involving his collaborators are setting a high standard.
With his sister Caroline (Amy Seimetz) disappearing into the clutches of what he suspects is a suspicious cult rather than a peaceful God-fearing parish, Patrick (Kentucker Audley) and two documentary making friends Sam (AJ Bowen) and Jake (Joe Swanberg) travel to a secretive location to investigate. Patrick harbours the hope of convincing Caroline to return but soon after arriving and being confronted by armed guards the crew realise that things are not quite what they seem and they very quickly find themselves out of their depth and suspicious of mysterious leader The Father.
There are many critics of the found footage or faux documentary format but in the hands of talented and visionary directors like West there is plenty of life in the genre. Much of this film focuses on scene setting, of clearly establishing the characters of the people behind and in front of the camera, and of drawing the audience into a world they suspect hides many secrets.
The slowly developing tension is superbly effective in that when events take a turn for the worse, as they are contractually bound to do, they carry the necessary impact as to generate suitably open mouthed awe. There is a creeping fear deep down inside all of us that we try to hide, a fear of the collective, a fear of unreasonable and impossibly misguided belief that is more frightening than any monster or ghost and West recognises this. He teases and toys with this natural and unavoidable emotion and when he has drawn it out he torments it with horrific intent. There are some issues.
Justifying the use of the camera is always, always a problem in this genre and there are moments when it is a little implausible. If you are being chased by extremely angry men with guns then carrying a heavy camera must be a hindrance, but still they do. Some of the characterisation is also a little clichéd and is reasonable well explained but comes across as a little obvious, as if they felt the need to really, really hammer home some of the points. That said, as with the better entries in the canon, you find yourself excusing or forgetting all this as the tense, involving story takes over and you begin to ignore what is not important.
OVERALL SUMMARY
The Sacrament is without doubt an extremely uncomfortable watch. West has created a deeply stifling atmosphere in an environment full of smilingly sinister characters. Even when you think you know where the intentionally meandering plot is heading nothing will prepare you for the reality and for that West must be applauded. There is a new breed of auteur directors working in horror and long may this continue.
