THE SACRAMENT (Ti West). 99 minutes. Opens Friday (June 6). For venues and times, see Movies. Rating: NNNN
Ti West is known for slow-burning, character-based indie horror films like The House Of The Devil and The Innkeepers, but there’s nothing supernatural about the chills in his latest film, which follows a trio of guys from Vice to an out-of-country commune where one of their sisters is living. They plan on documenting the trip video-travelogue-style.
After flying and being helicoptered to the compound (Georgia convincingly made to look tropical), they’re held back by machine-gun-toting security guards: first red flag. Once inside, though, everything seems fine. The sister (Amy Seimetz) appears happy, strangers praise their leader, and they’re even granted an interview with the man – who’s called simply “Father” – that night.
This public chat between on-camera guy Sam (AJ Bowen) and the messianic, Jim Jonesesque figure (Gene Jones) is the film’s centrepiece, and absolutely riveting, as Father twists the questions around to play to his followers. Look for a sly critique of America’s wars and the plight of its inner cities.
The chaos that follows, effectively caught on hand-held shakycam, is full of tension and high-stakes situations. And while there aren’t many surprises, the terror cuts deeper because the premise – as history has proven – is all too real.
