Le rituel du 9e jour

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 reside on the Shetland Islands, and I found it almost laughable that the director or producer decided to put the name of islands in a hat and pick out Unst on the Shetland Islands.

I also used to live in Unst before moving to the main town in Shetland, Lerwick (Leirvik, its Scandinavian title) and if only Unst had such high tech amenities and infrastructures, because it does not. lol

The film is poorly done with obvious editing errors in it.

I also noticed the very strong Scottish accents, which bares no resemblance to the Unst dialect or even this of Shetland.

It reminds me of the islands of Orkney, where children were taken from their parents because one child said the parents were involved in devil worshipping and alike. However, thankfully the children were returned to the parents after it was discovered the child made the story up.

I suspect this is where the Director/Producer got his story line from???

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!

What struck me about Sacrifice was that it had the feel of a really spooky episode of Monarch of the Glen (2000), somehow confused with an episode of Midsomer Murders (1997), with John Nettles played instead by an American doctor obviously in love with the adventures of Agatha Christie's Marple (2004). It's really a detective story more than a horror story. There is pace and some tension, and I admit I admired the lead's dogged determination. The story is wild, almost wacko, and will certainly make some viewers credulous. The story arc didn't really have any holes in it, which was quite a feat for such a spirally tale. I looked for them, but I have to hand it to the writers, they did a good job. I think the problem was more the premise which was far fetched. Even some of the scenarios beyond the story seemed far fetched. Would there really be a major maternity hospital on an island only reachable by boat? Wouldn't that present mothers with a problem if they came to term early? True, the hospital had a helicopter. The other problem I had was the filmmakers made no attempt to marry the story, with all its heritage, to the cinematography. The location was beautiful, but we only saw glimpses. British lovers of shows such as Marple and Midsomer Murders will enjoy this, but I doubt dire horror fans will be impressed.