Sacrifice (2016)

I really like Rupert Graves and I love the part of the world where this story is set (supposedly The Shetlands but actually filmed in Ireland)... but this film is so incredibly predictable that the viewer is constantly reminded of every other newcomer-to-town-discovers-sinister-cover-up movie that's every been made. How does a career-focused, city-girl American obstetrician possess the ability to operate an agricultural digger in her skill set? Upon discovering a dead horse, why wouldn't she just phone somebody or knock on the door of the farmer - rather than bury it? Why would she then jump into the hole she has dug? We got halfway through and decided life was too short to sit through the remainder of the increasingly ridiculous plot. Never getting that 45 minutes back... utterly dire. Do not waste your time.

I reside on the Shetland Islands, and I found it almost laughable that the director or producer decided to put the name of islands in a hat and pick out Unst on the Shetland Islands. I also used to live in Unst before moving to the main town in Shetland, Lerwick (Leirvik, its Scandinavian title) and if only Unst had such high tech amenities and infrastructures, because it does not. lol The film is poorly done with obvious editing errors in it. I also noticed the very strong Scottish accents, which bares no resemblance to the Unst dialect or even this of Shetland. It reminds me of the islands of Orkney, where children were taken from their parents because one child said the parents were involved in devil worshipping and alike. However, thankfully the children were returned to the parents after it was discovered the child made the story up. I suspect this is where the Director/Producer got his story line from???

Composer Benedikt Brydern's minimalist score opening at the start of SACRIFICE is a savagely witty tip off about what to expect from Director Peter A. Dowling's movie. It has a relentless pounding riff that never stops until the credits end for this action-adventure-mystery with what may appear to be familiar horror movie overtones that may distract audiences a little but the savage violence – without gratuitous gore, mind you – and many scenes of sinister happenings will make them focus as the story unfolds.Here is another tip off about what to expect. In her more than 62 screen credits, according to the Internet Movie Database, Radha Mitchell's portfolio includes some of the best upscale A, B horror and sci-fi movies that required her to fight off flesh-eating aliens, zombies and even a monster crocodile, just to name a few. Here is one more tip off: This is a bloody great, edge-of-your-seat movie with very imaginative plot stratagems and themes, such as this one: The maternal instinct is a force of nature. What's this? I thought when Bydern's score kicked in early in the beginning. Odd, for that kind of dramatic music for a movie about a doctor, Tora Hamilton (Radha Mitchell) moving with her husband (Rupert Graves), to the Shetland Islands, 100 miles off the coast of Scotland. They're having baby-making problems and they're hoping to resolve them in their new land where Rupert was born.In the course of her new job as a pediatrician, she becomes involved in the mystery surrounding the body of a young woman with strange symbols carved into her flesh and her heart ripped out. Whoa! The body is found on the property of her and her husband. (Yes, Brydern's music is pounding on.) Some critics might snipe about the very subtle, and I mean very subtle, hints at movies like ROSEMARY'S BABY and The STEPFORD WIVES but trust me SACRIFICE will keep folks on the edges of their seats.

Fairly run of the mill thriller. A woman moves to a remote Scottish island and stumbles onto a buried body. And so the 'mystery' begins....Nothing special here but still enjoyable. Overall the story is quite standard and predictable. Even the twists and turns can be seen a mile away. Don't expect to be wowed or anything.The only thing that lifts this movie in to something worth seeing is the lead actress (Radha Mitchell). Every time Radha was on screen she stole the show in this otherwise bland experience. Her convincing performance makes this movie. Overall a good movie for a rainy day. Just don't expect Oscar material.