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The Sacrament

Play trailer Poster for The Sacrament R Released Jun 6, 2014 1h 39m Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
Watchlist Tomatometer Popcornmeter
65% Tomatometer 72 Reviews 47% Popcornmeter 2,500+ Ratings
Found footage reveals the events surrounding an investigative team's visit to a remote commune, led by a dangerous fanatic who maintains an iron grip on his followers.
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The Sacrament

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Critics Consensus

While it may be a bit too slow for some, The Sacrament offers enough tense atmosphere and intriguing ideas to satisfy discerning horror buffs.

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Critics Reviews

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Moira MacDonald Seattle Times West's found-footage structure doesn't always entirely make sense, but it's easy to forgive "The Sacrament" its flaws. Rated: 3/4 Jun 26, 2014 Full Review Robert Abele Los Angeles Times The first half is a cautiously dread-inducing tour de force... The second half, however, when all hell breaks loose a little too quickly, is the disappointment. Jun 13, 2014 Full Review Peter Keough Boston Globe Everything that happens is what you'd expect, and the choice of subject and the modifications West has made to the generic conventions don't add much to the suspense or thrills. Rated: 2.5/4 Jun 12, 2014 Full Review Joe Lipsett Murder Made Fiction Podcast - Bloody Disgusting By focusing principally on the events of the massacre, the characterizations are slightly shallow, but Gene Jones' portrayal of Father and the harrowing use of faux documentary footage makes this intimate and unsettling Jonestown adaptation work Rated: 3/5 Nov 5, 2024 Full Review Grant Watson Fiction Machine A quite potent and provocative thriller with more than enough great moments to make up for its shortfalls. Rated: 6/10 Aug 8, 2024 Full Review Brian Eggert Deep Focus Review A tense thriller about religious extremism and a promising step into a more advanced brand of horror filmmaking for West. Rated: 3/4 Aug 15, 2022 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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John C I hate ‘found footage’ films. There’s simply too many of them these days and they’re all basically the same. Just because ‘The Blair Witch Project’ revitalised the genre, it seems that every wannabe film-maker is trying his hand at one. Let’s face it... they’re cheap and easy to produce, not really relying on fancy special effects for scare tactics. Personally, I think all ‘found footage’ horror films should come with a warning on them, letting us – the viewing public – know that we’re in for ninety minutes of shaky camera footage with actors whispering directly into the camera from right up close during alleged times of tension. In fact, if ‘The Sacrament’ did have a label on it saying that it was ‘found footage’ I wouldn’t have watched it in the first place. However, I did. I mainly watched it because it had Eli Roth’s name attached to it and I still think he has some good stories left in him (even though I haven’t really enjoyed much he’s done since Cabin Fever). And, amazingly it’s watchable. That would be how I describe it – watchable. Not good, just watchable. And, based on how much I hate ‘found footage’ films, ‘watchable’ is a reasonable compliment. We get the same old documentary film-makers travelling to some cult’s commune in the middle of nowhere to track down one of their lost relatives. Guess what... all is not what it seems. I won’t go into detail, as you can probably already guess what sorts of perils they run into. You get the same shaky camera-work, chases through woods, characters sticking their faces right up close to the camera and filming themselves. Nothing new, but, when compared to all the truly horrendous ‘found footage’ rubbish infesting DVD bargain bins, at least I managed to sit through this one without turning it off halfway! Rated 2 out of 5 stars 10/22/24 Full Review Audience Member Ti West has clearly done his research: it's hard to imagine a better movie could be made about Jonestown. This film brought the absolute horror of that day to life for me. The needless and appalling way all these people, nearly a 3rd of whom were children, died. Horror is the only word I know that comes close. Edit: Many commenters seem confused. The filmmaker has always been totally transparent that this is a simplified retelling of the Jonestown massacre in a modern setting. He's not hiding that whatsoever. I'll bet money that West heard the nightmarish Death Tape, and it got under his skin for good. And so he had to make this. Rated 5 out of 5 stars 07/09/24 Full Review Logan D Two documentary filmmakers journey to a hidden compound to help their friend locate his sister. First, let me say Kentucker Audley may be the best name I've ever heard. Seek out his film Strawberry Mansions for an odd treat. As for this film, it's a slow moving effort from West but it does feature his talent for atmosphere. The story is obviously influence by Jim Jones and Waco and their aren't many surprises knowing that fact. The actors are engaging, however. For a found footage film, however, I wasn't always sure who was filming. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 12/26/23 Full Review Alec B Yes it's an ambitious and sometimes frightening film, but it suffers from some really unconvincing performances and a dud of a finale. Rated 2.5 out of 5 stars 11/10/23 Full Review Emma S Idk how to explain how many things are wrong with this garbage. Total ripoff of Jonestown tragedy except it was real and this was horrible worrying and acting. Ridiculous individual death scenes overreacting, even to the Bic lighter scene. I just can only assume there's a generation not familiar with the event so don't truly under stand just how poorly this film was done. Even in the last moments of the film they are still pretending it's not Jonestown. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 06/02/23 Full Review Ana O It's... ok. Kinda disappointing. The movie is made well, acted well, everything is done well, except that it's just... not interesting. There are no twists. Everything that happens is extremely predictable. It's basically just the Jonestown story. Honestly if it had explicitly stated that or said "based on a true story" I would've enjoyed it more. I was just expecting it to be something different, because there have already been a ton of Jonestown movies made. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 05/12/23 Full Review Read all reviews
The Sacrament

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Cast & Crew

The Sacrament

The Sacrament: Official Clip - The Worst Idea Ever The Sacrament: Official Clip - The Worst Idea Ever 2:23 The Sacrament: Official Clip - Destroy Us From Within The Sacrament: Official Clip - Destroy Us From Within 2:47 The Sacrament: Official Clip - Quick and Painless The Sacrament: Official Clip - Quick and Painless 2:40 The Sacrament: Official Clip - Don't Be Afraid The Sacrament: Official Clip - Don't Be Afraid 2:51 The Sacrament: Official Clip - You Should've Never Come The Sacrament: Official Clip - You Should've Never Come 2:06 The Sacrament: Official Clip - Everybody Dies The Sacrament: Official Clip - Everybody Dies 3:00 The Sacrament: Official Clip - You're in Paradise The Sacrament: Official Clip - You're in Paradise 2:46 The Sacrament: Official Clip - Welcome to Eden Parish The Sacrament: Official Clip - Welcome to Eden Parish 2:41 The Sacrament: Official Clip - You're Dealing With Their Lives The Sacrament: Official Clip - You're Dealing With Their Lives 2:59 The Sacrament: Official Clip - Your Government is Failing The Sacrament: Official Clip - Your Government is Failing 2:56 View more videos
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Movie Info

Synopsis Found footage reveals the events surrounding an investigative team's visit to a remote commune, led by a dangerous fanatic who maintains an iron grip on his followers.
Director
Ti West
Producer
Molly Conners, Jacob Jaffke, Peter Phok, Christopher Woodrow, Eli Roth
Screenwriter
Ti West
Distributor
Magnolia Pictures
Production Co
Arcade, Worldview Entertainment
Rating
R (Brief Drug Use|Bloody Images|Disturbing Violent Content|Language)
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Theaters)
Jun 6, 2014, Limited
Release Date (Streaming)
Nov 1, 2016
Box Office (Gross USA)
$9.0K
Runtime
1h 39m
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