The Sacrament - A ‘found footage’ film that is just about... Watchable

I hate ‘found footage’ films.  There’s simply too many of them these days and they’re all basically the same.  Just because ‘The Blair Witch Project’ revitalised the genre, it seems that every wannabe film-maker is trying his hand at one.  Let’s face it... they’re cheap and easy to produce, not really relying on fancy special effects for scare tactics.

Personally, I think all ‘found footage’ horror films should come with a warning on them, letting us – the viewing public – know that we’re in for ninety minutes of shaky camera footage with actors whispering directly into the camera from right up close during alleged times of tension.  In fact, if ‘The Sacrament’ did have a label on it saying that it was ‘found footage’ I wouldn’t have watched it in the first place.

However, I did.  I mainly watched it because it had Eli Roth’s name attached to it and I still think he has some good stories left in him (even though I haven’t really enjoyed much he’s done since Cabin Fever).  And, amazingly it’s watchable.  That would be how I describe it – watchable.  Not good, just watchable.  And, based on how much I hate ‘found footage’ films, ‘watchable’ is a reasonable compliment.

We get the same old documentary film-makers travelling to some cult’s commune in the middle of nowhere to track down one of their lost relatives.  Guess what... all is not what it seems.  I won’t go into detail, as you can probably already guess what sorts of perils they run into.  You get the same shaky camera-work, chases through woods, characters sticking their faces right up close to the camera and filming themselves.

Nothing new, but, when compared to all the truly horrendous ‘found footage’ rubbish infesting DVD bargain bins, at least I managed to sit through this one without turning it off halfway!

5/10 a hard trek, a bit like unicycling to Mordor and back