The Sacrament

This was an almost exact telling of the Jonestown Massacre. The only differences were the date because it was present day, a film crew came with a parishioners relative rather than a congressman and there were not as many victims.

The Sacrament is a fairly straightforward movie. It's about a group of guys who are part of a documentary film group and one of the guys' sister moves into an isolated commune and the film crew wants to know the full scoop. You'll know exactly where this movie is going as it progresses, but that isn't necessarily a bad thing. It gives a chance for director Ti West to establish some character background and vague insights into the religious group while slowly turning the creep dial up until the movie's climax. The acting is good across the board, the standout being the Father (Gene Jones) who is suitably charismatic as the cult's ominous leader. For a found-footage movie it's shot well, but of course there are the typical issues that come with the turf - impossible angles, how the footage was even found - but these are things you'd know going in. The movie itself is a well executed, suspenseful slow burn.

The biggest fault in The Sacrament is its predictability. Again, it's not a bad thing, we just know what's coming at every turn. Creepy cult, innocent people poking their noses in places they don't belong, an underlying dark scheme that slowly unravels to the protagonists. If that kind of stuff interests you and you're willing to forgive the tropes that come with the genre, The Sacrament is a worthwhile watch.

Already out there that stands as legitimate information. Try reading "Raven,"try viewing a quality documentary and understanding the historical context from which this "movie" came from. I'm sorry but people really died in this horrible ordeal and it clearly wasn't a film. Sometimes spending 4m on a project is just a bad idea outside giving work to actors and film crews. It's not a mystery that opening weekend seemed to bring in less than $550 USD. This effort would have been better served by the creators simply retelling the original story perhaps from a different view point. I thought it was in poor taste to put up that 167 lives were lost and that only two survived. Try over 900 with no movie stars involved. 3/10 was for how things looked at the outset. Don't pay any money for this.

I was born in 83, so anything I know of Jonestown has been gleaned from podcasts, documentaries, or anniversary television broadcasts. Even that is much more than some.

And that's how it works, right? As much as we hate to admit it, as time moves on, everything (and I do mean *everything*) fades from memory. Go ahead and ask a 16 yr old nowadays who Jim Jones or David Koresh were - I bet they'll roll their eyes and assume you're talking about an 80s rock band lead. That fading and moving on of time is exactly why the remake/prequel/sequel/reboot industry is a thing of the Millennial age that never was before.

In order for history (good, bad, or indifferent) to continue to be passed along, the stories have to be retold and reincarnated in ways that are more appealing to those who come after. So maybe The Sacrament doesn't come right out and say, "Hey, we remade Guyana," but I sincerely doubt any of the filmmakers involved thought that viewers of the right age were going to mistake the story for anything else. Another movie that tells a variation of Jonestown without acknowledging it is "The Veil" btw.

As far as found footage films go, this one is high quality cinematography-wise. I thought the casting was actually fairly impressive, and despite knowing exactly where the story was headed, I did find the second half hard to watch; it did give me insight into Jonestown in a way that was truly shocking.

Worth a watch. Won't blow your mind, or bring home an Oscar, but Ti West is always hit or miss with me (mostly miss) and this one wasn't too bad. If you would rather see Jonestown through a less modern, less horror-genre lens, then by all means, go watch the stuff made in the 80s.

Most people seem to dislike the "found-footage" genre, though I personal like to see what stories filmmakers can create and develop it as a found-footage (mostly horror). I did like the first 3 installments of "Paranormal Activity," I absolutely loved "Cloverfield," and "The Blair Witch Project" did scare me. Thus, if you found more than one of these repulsive, ignore my review. I will also warn that this is obviously not a movie for everyone. After watching this movie, I can say that I came out very disturbed and mortified, which was Ti West's intentions (I presume). The whole film feels very real, and I did enjoy Gene Jones and Amy Seimitz's terrifyingly surreal acting. Most people will see this movie knowing how it'll end since it's based on the Jonestown massacre (don't look this up if you don't know it!!!), but that doesn't mean there weren't other aspects of the movie that weren't entertaining. For what the movie is about, I was surprised to still be jumping in my seat and breathing heavily at moments of great suspense. My only complaints about the film were some of the choices Ti West chose to move the story (those moments where the audience knows they are doing something very stupid and it feels unrealistic that they would do that to begin with). Some criticism I've heard is that it takes forever to get to the "good" parts. I'm going to argue that that is false criticism unless you are only looking to watch a 95 minute movie filled with terror and suspense. Yes, the first half of the movie doesn't have very much suspense, but there is still a chilling mood creeping up every minute. Plus, the chemistry between the actors is great and entertaining!