H.P. Lovecraft once wrote, “The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown.” But number two on that list would probably fear of the inevitable: knowing full well that something terrible is about to happen but having to sit back and wait for it to unfold. Lovecraft was a master of that. His readers knew that the unspeakable would inevitably occur but to get there, they had to wait for his otherwise intelligent protagonists to catch up to the fact that they’re in an H.P. Lovecraft story.
Ti West’s films work very much the same way. The filmmaker behind The House of the Devil and The Innkeepers knows you know full well that the horror is coming, and he makes you wait. When he does his job right the waiting can be the best part, watching his protagonists miss vital clues and talk themselves into situations that the audience, two steps ahead at all times, can’t believe are unfolding. We know better than the heroes of his new film The Sacrament. Or do we?
The Sacrament stars A.J. Bowen (You’re Next) and Joe Swanberg (You’re Next) as reporters for Vice magazine who agree to join photojournalist Kentucker Audley (V/H/S) to the isolated community of Eden Parish. Audley’s sister, Amy Seimetz (Upstream Color) is a former addict who has taken up with a religious leader known as Father (Gene Jones, No Country for Old Men). Our heroes record their journey in a documentary style, expecting to expose a religious cult but finding – for a nearly excruciating amount of time – nothing suspicious whatsoever. The people of Eden Parish seem nice enough, their community well stocked for emergencies and living a peaceful life indeed. They begin to wonder if there’s anything wrong with this community at all, and the audience has been waiting so long that they begin to wonder if they, too, have been misled.
And then…
The Sacrament lends itself well to spoilers. The air of Jonestown hangs heavy over the head of the proceedings like a long and angular shadow, receding ever closer as the morning wears on. You know something horrible is coming, and when it arrives Ti West’s pay off lasts just as long as the build up. The Sacrament culminates in madness, terror, misery and moments of truly inspired cinematic horror. The situation is so egregious and strange that it took that long to explain just how it could happen and has happened in real life. Father’s explanation of his ways and justifications for his actions indeed reek of both evil and benevolence. The scene where A.J. Bowen interviews Gene Jones is a particularly eerie and affable exchange of mixed messages and disquieting insight into rationality and delusion.
For a film that risks categorization in the “found footage” genre, The Sacrament is a handsome production. Ti West understands the use of widescreen and framing to make the events of his film seem large and important, and the significance of intimate dialogue into the camera to build character and develop dread. It’s an intelligent, even challenging work, although not quite as crisp and frightening as The House of the Devil. But then, nowadays, few films are.
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
