Sacrifício

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.

I know all you Shetlander's are saying its just bad press but we know you eat your babies, kill off your wives, really love your sheep, etc. 'She's taken one of the boats' how the f*<k did she park it half way up the beach?. All in all a predictable late night tv movie.

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.

SACRIFICE is a horror film that doesn't want to be a horror film. Instead it would rather be a mature police procedural thriller, with lots of mystery aspects, but there's no getting away from the fact that the narrative is rooted in folk horror no matter how much the writer and director try to distance themselves from the genre.

The storyline is about an American doctor who goes to live on the Shetland islands with her husband and soon discovers a body missing a heart. It all points to sinister conspiracies and sacrifice, and she's soon up to her neck in danger. The film is beautifully shot - in Ireland for the most part - with lots of welcome outdoor location photography, and the plot feels like an episode of SILENT WITNESS with hints of THE WICKER MAN.

A shame, then, that the central detective story is so restrained and predictable. Radha Mitchell is a good actress, and she has a bit of charm here, but otherwise the it all feels very routine and difficult to get excited about. I liked seeing Ian McElhinney (GAME OF THRONES) in support but the rest of the cast are pretty boring, and things resolutely play out in the most predictable way imaginable.

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!