Four young ladies get together for a fun-filled weekend away in the country. Lured to a pagan festival by the promise of drugs and alcohol, the girls end up facing their biggest fears when things inevitably go awry…
Sacrilege‘s opening moments show a lot of potential, with beautiful sweeping shots of the British countryside, a supremely dramatic score and an unexpectedly gruesome opening scene that really grabs the attention. Unfortunately, things go south pretty quickly…
The film’s main hurdle is its group of one-dimensional protagonists – the self-obsessed Instagrammer, the slightly alternative one, and two others whose only “thing” seems to be that they used to be a couple, which appears to serve little purpose other than providing an excuse for an awkward sex scene. All four girls are in their early 20s but act like they’re barely in their teens, each one as superficial, vacuous, ditzy and unlikeable as the other. Whether it’s down to the script, the direction, the cast and crew’s lack of experience or a combination of all three, the characters never quite seem like they know how or where to stand or whether it’s even really their turn to speak. There’s an almost Breenian quality to the unnatural dialogue and its delivery, although Sacrilege never reaches such spectacular heights (but then, what does?), instead coming across like an extended pilot for a rejected Hollyoaks Halloween special.
A heavy reliance on familiar horror tropes and cliches means that the scares aren’t as effective as they could have been, although the first death – when it finally happens – is so abrupt that it might at least elicit a hearty chuckle. The two bad guys – a creepy groundskeeper and a pagan priest – aren’t given enough screen time to feel genuinely threatening, and the film chooses to offer no resolution during its closing moments, leaving viewers with an overwhelming feeling of being cheated out of 80 minutes of their time.
It’s clear that director David Creed has put an admirable amount of effort into Sacrilege‘s production, and demonstrates a decent grasp of the technical side of things. The camera angles, lighting, sound and editing are generally solid enough, and the score by Colin McGinness works tremendously well in places, but the script, plot, performances and overall attention to detail leave a lot to be desired. It would be interesting to see what Creed can do with a bigger budget and some better material to work with, but Sacrilege ultimately feels more like a portfolio piece rather than a product for general consumption, making it a tricky one to recommend.
Release date: March 16th (US and Canada)
