Le rituel du 9e jour

Fairly run of the mill thriller. A woman moves to a remote Scottish island and stumbles onto a buried body. And so the 'mystery' begins....

Nothing special here but still enjoyable. Overall the story is quite standard and predictable. Even the twists and turns can be seen a mile away. Don't expect to be wowed or anything.

The only thing that lifts this movie in to something worth seeing is the lead actress (Radha Mitchell). Every time Radha was on screen she stole the show in this otherwise bland experience. Her convincing performance makes this movie.

Overall a good movie for a rainy day. Just don't expect Oscar material.

This movie was clearly made to entertain you while you doze off on the couch: semi intriguing premise, clunky pacing and the usual European folklore bric a brac composed of small communities, weird rites of fertility and secret cults.

From the start you know this is going to stink when the lead asks her husband of many years "Your father doesn't know you're a diabetic, does he?", when they are IN HIS HOUSE having dinner! Presumably this didn't seem important enough to talk about before!

A nosy American doctor shows up at a remote Scottish island and without delay starts her own full scale murder investigation after she dug up a hole in her garden that uncovers a body! She immediately gets a job at the hospital, too. She must be a helluva doctor!

The bloody awful music tries to give an atmosphere of suspense for the entire 90 minutes... even when there's NOTHING HAPPENING!

The cult elements are never really explored, apart from a few daubings on walls and bodies... which the cops don't seem to think really matter.

Anyone who gets in the way is bumped off and for the cops it's just another day in the office. Happens all the time on these remote islands.

Somehow the house on the top of a mountain seems to have been FLOODED! How the bloody hell did that happen?

The final 20 minutes play out like the worst episode of a 1990's Ruth Rendell crap-fest.

Overall it's just very silly. It is Lifetime TV for people who think that Lifetime TV needs more murders!

This very much reminded me of the British crime series Silent Witness. Had the same feel to it. Also had a slightly "Wicker Man" feel to it. The characters were strong and though the story was a little far fetched it remained believable and convincing. It isn't a cinema quality film and certainly doesn't have special effects or big budget action scenes but the acting is good and the sense of malevolence and mystery compelling. It is worth watching and it kept my interest throughout. I liked the twists and turns, the scenery was beautiful and wild and created a dramatic backdrop to the story. I felt it was a pity this wasn't a pilot episode of a series as I would have carried on watching!

I'm not really a fan of thriller movies in which legends and cults are used for a plot. Because most are quite predictable and so it is Sacrifice. Thus, after reading a storyline at IMDb, I kinda knew what to expect.

I admit, main reason for watching this movie anyway, was Radha Mitchell. I just think, over the years, she's getting better and better. I can't judge her acting, but one is for sure: she leaves a mark in a movie.

So, even nothing really surprised me during watching Sacrifice, it got my attention all the time -it's something that makes a good movie in my eyes.

Thus, if you like such genre, I recommend seeing this movie. I give it 7 stars.