Sacrament (2014)

ridiculous rating

Just what I expected

From my favorite movies..

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Sure, there are some "interesting" acting moments, but take the movie for what it is- an indie horror. It hits that mark for me. I liked the moments of humor too, it was a great contrast to the other parts. There are some good gory parts and a few jumpy moments. I enjoyed that there was a gay inclusion but wasn't the focus of the movie, just a normal part of it. Some parts were a little predictable, but there is a good overall feeling of suspense. I would have liked to see quicker movement of the traveling group into the main story line, but I like the movie overall. At about 80 minutes in it gets very good. My biggest complaint is we don't know what happened to the big girl!! The premise is solid to me and I really enjoyed the film!

When I did a search for this on IMDb I was offered a film called 'Excrement' and my first reaction was to think they may have renamed this 'film' to more accurately represent what this 'horror' is all about. The plot is seven friends, on a road trip, get stuck in some town in Texas because there is going to be a storm. This town is habited by extreme religious Bible thumpers. Only they like to thump more than just the 'good book'.There are some good performances here from some lesser known actors, but some of the main characters are cringeworthily bad. There is also a gay slant in that two of the friends are male lovers, but whether that works to add to the watery plot is debatable. The gore is the 'seen it before – done better' variety and there is almost no tension at all. The point of horror films is you should be shocked and at least care a little about the players. Here the characters are all so blandly tedious that you really don't give a monkeys if they become a victim.Some reviews have criticised the mis representation of religion here too– well this is a piece of fiction so I am fine with that. It is though ultimately a boringly uneventful film that is the sort you just want to end. If you are still masochistic enough to want to see this – then go for the rental option and make sure you have some medicinal alcohol on standby.

I was expecting it to be bad. I was expecting it to be filmed on a shoestring budget. I was even expecting poor acting and cheesy gore effects. And I got it all and more.What I wasn't expecting (I guess I don't know how to read, since there were hints all over this page) was the homosexual slant.Now I have nothing against gays, I want to make that clear. However, having nothing against them is not synonymous with being able to stoically sit through some rather intimate and uncomfortable sex scenes without cringing. For the record, I've always hated sex scenes in my movies, because in my opinion they never make any sense. It's a private thing, I don't see how it develops the film or the characters in any way to watch that private moment. But I found myself cringing even more so while watching two guys paw and smooch each other.Ha. I guess I have a little homophobia in me that I didn't know about.Speaking of homophobia, lets get to the other half of this film: The psycho religious Bible-thumpers, whose drastically unreal interpretation of the writings of Moses and Jesus Christ have directed them squarely down the path of cannibalizing their out of town guests. It would be very laughable really, if it wasn't so insulting and intriguing at the same time.What I mean by that? Well, there are a million movies about psychotic Christians because they're easy to pick on. You can make the most abhorrent accusations at them, and they don't get mad and do scary things like invade your home, drag your family into the street, behead you, rape your wife and daughters, torture your sons and sell anyone left alive into a slave trade.. Now THAT would be a scary movie. Funny that no one ever makes scary movies about religions that actually do that sort of thing. Nope, instead it's always Christians. So in that light, it's rather insulting to Christianity as a whole that they are a favorite target for films of this sort.However, to be fair, the bad blood between Christianity and homosexuality runs very deep. While movies that demonize Christians are just about everywhere, a movie that features homosexual heroes almost seems justified in painting Christianity in a bad light. This is the first time I've ever seen the "psycho religious nuts" trope viewed through the homosexual lens.I want to be clear, it wasn't good, but it was vaguely interesting.I wonder if this is how most homosexuals actually view religious people? That's really sort of sad.

Am I the only person here lucky enough to have seen 'Sacrament?' Seriously, guys, my fellow movie goers - I can't possibly be the only person here that was blessed by the all mighty lord: Shawn Ewert. The writer/director of this fine addition to the horror genre. 'Sacrament' doesn't only cater to us horror fans, but Shawn manages to offer a little religion for the religious folks out there - toss in some homosexuality, an emo goth... and, well, what would a horror film be without a little Cannibalism, too, right? All the cliché characters are here - all played by, you guessed it, no name actors that scene steal each other by trying to be the worst actor in the film (my vote goes to the guy who played the son of the religious leader.) So, anyway - 'Sacrament' is about a town full of religious cannibals running short on their food supply, but lucky for them, seven friends ride into town (oh gee, more originality.) A few bad kill scenes, some nice homemade barbecue - that's pretty much it.Random Ramblings of a Madman: Note to self - If I ever ride into a town full of religious cannibals, pretend to be homosexual - because I guess they don't make for good barbecue.