By focusing principally on the events of the massacre, the characterizations are slightly shallow, but Gene Jones' portrayal of Father and the harrowing use of faux documentary footage makes this intimate and unsettling Jonestown adaptation work

| Original Score: 3/5 | Nov 5, 2024

A quite potent and provocative thriller with more than enough great moments to make up for its shortfalls.

| Original Score: 6/10 | Aug 8, 2024

A tense thriller about religious extremism and a promising step into a more advanced brand of horror filmmaking for West.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Aug 15, 2022

The worst thing about The Sacrament was how unapologetically exploitative it was

| Original Score: C- | Jul 20, 2020

The Sacrament might not quite be a breakout for West, as the concept might not fly with mainstream audiences, but it still establishes him as one of the only consistent horror filmmakers working today.

| Original Score: 7.1/10 | Jun 26, 2019

It doesn't offer many scares or scare tactics but it definitely shows you how evil the human race can be.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Jun 11, 2019

A complex and satisfying psychological thriller set in a remote and seemingly peaceful commune in rural America.

| Original Score: 4/5 | Mar 22, 2019

This low-budget bungle-in-the-jungle chiller has a lot of smarts and perception about its organic fear-inducing impulses than most of its creepy contemporaries with a higher profile.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Nov 10, 2018

The realistic scenery, acting and story line were definitely impressive.

| Original Score: 3/5 | Oct 15, 2018

A welcome example of nearly flawless, original horror, and I am even more excited to follow West's career as a now well-rounded genre director.

| Aug 21, 2018

So, it's a misfire-an interesting one, but a misfire, nonetheless.

| Aug 22, 2017

West also proves that horror can draw from real-world scenarios and give us surprisingly profound moments.

| Original Score: 8/10 | Mar 16, 2017

Genuinely creepy and upsetting, the picture showcases West's ability to make even a tired subgenre marginally fresh.

| Original Score: B- | Jun 23, 2016

What some may see as "slow and uneventful storytelling" I see as "subtle and masterfully sustained suspense."

| Aug 24, 2015

Although this film is classified in the horror genre, it plays more like a suspenseful drama. This film shows that director Ti West has the potential to move beyond the horror genre, as so many other directors have done before him.

| Original Score: B | Jan 1, 2015

Unimaginative shocker.

| Original Score: C+ | Dec 7, 2014

An overwhelmingly unoriginal thriller. "The Sacrament" borrows heavily, if not totally, from the 1978 Jonestown Massacre. But, it can't get the chills that even a bad documentary on Jonestown could give.

| Original Score: D- | Sep 6, 2014

The film has a ticking time-bomb quality that pays off in the accelerating violence of the breathless final act, which is more grim than gory, with the high body count one would expect from a movie inspired by Jonestown.

| Original Score: 3/4 | Sep 4, 2014

What starts as a slow-burning and suspenseful story of religious fanaticism settles for a conventionally brutal resolution, with muddled social context and more narrative questions than answers.

| Jun 30, 2014

West's found-footage structure doesn't always entirely make sense, but it's easy to forgive "The Sacrament" its flaws.

Full Review | Original Score: 3/4 | Jun 26, 2014