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Originally Posted by J Harker  I watched Ti Wests The Sacrament last night.
Patrick a New York fashion magazine photographer recieves a letter from his estranged sister inviting him to visit her at an isolated religious commune Eden Parish.
Sniffing a story his colleague, reporter Sam arranges to accompany him with cameraman Jake in tow. Effectively turning the trip into a documentary.
Thinking they're heading into a chilled out hippy community the three are a little taken back to find their location is only accessible by helicopter and patrolled by gaurds with machine guns.
Eventually they meet up with Patricks sister and things calm down a bit as they're granted access to the community and freedom to film and conduct interviews with the residents, culminating in a very public interview with the charismatic but oh so slightly sinister founder and leader of the community a man known as 'Father'.
The three have to agree that everyone they speak to seems very happy with their life at Eden Parish and even Patricks sister a former drug addict appears to be at peace.
However things start to get eerie once a young mute girl starts taking an interest in the outside.
I don't want to say anymore about the plot and i would advise avoiding the trailer for this one too.
I loved The Sacrament and its the best film of Ti Wests I've seen.
The found footage aspect is intigrated well into the story and the film is the right length.
The performances are great all around managing to get the right level of characterisation out of Patrick, Sam and Jake without feeling forced, something that i don't think makes sense in found footage films. The Father is a fantastic character and Gene Jones plays him beautifully, a man able to go from charming to threatening in the same sentence. I picked this up for a quid in Poundland last week but i would have been just as happy if I'd paid a tenner.
There are faint whiffs of the Wicker Man here and the opening scenes as the New York make their way to the commune via helicopter seem heavily influenced by Cannibal Holocaust to me.
Highly recommended. |
I too watched this last night and also loved it.
It's a real slow burner where the tension builds up ever so gradually. Agree with it's heavy influences of The Wicker Man and 70's cannibal films as well.