The Sacrament (2014)

Two journalists follow a man who's searching for his missing sister to a remote religious woodland retreat called Eden Parish which turns out to be anything but the paradise that it initially appears to be. Writer/director Ti West ably crafts a subtle, yet still potently unsettling sense of pure dread and unease that gradually culminates in a positively bloodcurdling mass suicide at the startling climax. Moreover, West grounds the compelling premise in a thoroughly believable everyday reality; it's the fact that the events depicted in this film are within the realm of possibility that in turn gives this picture an extra chilling power, with the obvious similarities to the infamous Jonestown massacre in particular providing an additional frightening plausibility. The excellent acting by the capable cast further keep this movie humming: Joe Swanberg as cynical cameraman Jake Williams, AJ Bowen as eager reporter Sam Turner, Kentucker Audley as the concerned Patrick, and Amy Seimetz as perky ex-junkie Caroline. Character actor Gene Jones contributes a stand-out portrayal of affable and charismatic cult leader Father. A supremely strong and unnerving winner.

This isn't a bad film, Its actually an OK cult movie. The main problem with the film is it lacks any actual new ideas. If you have seen or read anything about the Jim Jones cult you will automatically see this is a movie that took almost the whole story from that actual event. From the time the VICE crew gets off the helicopter to the point when its flying away, theses are all ideas and scenarios taken straight from the actual event. The film is fun to watch and the pacing is well. The actors do a good job and the leader of the cult does a great Jim Jones impression. The movie just suffers because you can watch an actual documentary of the Jim Jones cult and get a way more shocking story. But if you want a decent fun movie, give it a watch, I wouldn't say you would be wasting your time. 6/10.

...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.

I got this from my local library as I do most of the films I watch so as not to blow 15 bucks at a theater for junk like this.As others have commented, this is s rip-off of the Jonestown story, in which actor Powers Booth was so good as Jim Jones. There are also documentaries on this story that are much better than this movie as well. I got the feeling the writer thought he could slip this one past a "new generation." I vividly recall the Time Magazine cover of the over 900 bodies lying dead in that remote region of Guyana and the moment the film reached the settlement, I knew it was a re-telling of Jonestown. Even the terminology and landscape used, eg. the pavilion, the layout of the settlement etc. are Jonestown to a tee.The players, who are supposed to be reporters, are annoying from the start. To me they epitomize the smart-ass, know-it-all and feel they have a right to know-it-all blogger-types so prevalent in today's media; the ones that believe they are too smart to believe in God, for example and seem dumbfounded by anyone who doesn't share their "enlightened" view.It was interesting to see how close they might come to the actual story but like the Titanic where the main character gets chance after chance to get on a life boat but doesn't or better yet, like the kids at a slasher summer camp flick, by the end you just hope they all die for their stupidity. And like those slasher flicks, inexplicably, the main character survives. Which brings me to spoiler number 1. The Sam character was seen being macheted in the pavilion but miraculously re-appears with the Father later with blood on his shirt but apparently fit enough to run for his life at the end. How? Was he just nicked or what? And how the helicopter pilot survived his gunshot wounds to be able to lie around for hours and then still fly the chopper out (and was conveniently waiting with the rotors spinning) is beyond me.I guess it never occurred to any of the three "heroes" to just get the hell out of there and send back help when they had opportunity after opportunity.The "Father" character was well-played too and like the original on which he is based, I was always struck by how he told everyone else to take the potion but didn't himself. That would have been enough to send me running, which, by the way,a few did in real life; there were a handful of survivors.I could go on but it would basically be a narrative on the Jonestown Story so I'll let you find that out for yourself. But as a last word, this film is no good.