Sacrificial

Director - Tony Schweikle (Spirit of the San Juans, Dobe and a Company of Heroes)

Starring - Carter Burch (Fatal Attraction, Venom), Elisabeth Ferrara (Lethal Weapon, Verotika), and Mark Laursen (Evil Things, My Haunted House)

Release Date - 2018

Genre - Horror

Tagline - "Embrace the Darkness"
Format - DVD (Personal Collection) (Screener)

Rating (out of 5):

     I've been a huge fan of Wild Eye's for sometime now.  I've collected their releases for almost a decade now and every month I look forward to their new releases just like I do with Vinegar Syndrome.  Just because I love WE doesn't mean I enjoy every release of theirs.  I love collecting them but sometimes they release a film that I just don't care for.  I always have fun watching a new indie release but sometimes it is a chore to finish the film.  A few weeks ago MVD sent over the 2018 film Sacrificial to review.  I love getting a new Wild Eye release to review and the artwork for this one really pulled me in but the film itself was extremely messy and difficult to follow.  I wanted to like it but I couldn't.

     The film follows a young man who accompanies a women he met at a bar to a voodoo ritual.  When he witnesses a human sacrifice he flees for his life and soon goes into hiding for fear that the cult will track him down before he can tell the story of what he saw.

     I was really curious about Sacrificial, originally titled Rum and Hot Peppers, but it only took about 10 minutes for me to realize that this was going to be a tough one to finish.  The movie had an interesting premise but the execution and story is just all wrong.  It's almost as if the story was never fully completed and a lot of scenes were added strictly to extend the run time.  I'm sorry, but this is one I don't care for.  The acting in this one is not perfect but I've seen a lot worse.  Some of the scenes were acted well enough for the movie to progress but a few of the scenes lacked energy or commitment.  It felt like the cast was just reading over their lines prior to filming.  No dedication at all which resulted in what was already a dull story becoming even more boring.  The story for this one started out interestingly enough but it struggled to find it's footing almost as if they had the premise written down but never took the time to write out where they would go with it.  The thought of a fake voodoo cult killing people as a tourist attraction is a little goofy but I actually liked that part of the film.  With that being said, the movie didn't know what to do with this.  We spent way too much time following one guy as he panicked and became paranoid.  This part of the film was too drawn out and extremely boring.  A good chunk of this could have been cut out resulting in a much shorter film that could have been a little more effective.  Finally, the film has some blood but don't expect anything that will stand out or hold your attention in regards to deaths.  The movie is more focused on character interactions over story and blood.  Overall, Sacrificial had an interesting idea but was unable to pull it all together into something enjoyable.  It feels like it was possibly a rushed project that resulted in a lot of corners cut.  This is one Wild Eye release that I can't recommend.