Horror Movie Review: Sacrilege (2017)

Sacrilege follows Jessica, a carefree student desperate to avoid any responsibility. She’s out with her boyfriend Cole when they stumble across a yard sale. It’s their friend Sam’s birthday so they decide to have a look around in hopes that they might find something. Jessica spots a vintage music box and figures it would make the perfect gift. Also, it’s a major steal at the price the salesman is selling it for. However, there is one minor detail that will likely ruin Sam’s enjoyment of her present. The music box is haunted by a bloodthirsty demonic entity that feeds on the lives of those that hear the box’s melody.

As you would expect, everything seems fine with the box a first. However, it isn’t long before strange activity occurs. The unholy trinket starts to move around by itself. I like that Sam didn’t simply ignore this. When she sees that it is not where it should be, she investigates the house thinking that someone may have broken in. In my opinion, this is a much more realistic reaction. It just so happens that on this particular occasion it is in fact supernatural. Sam is attacked by a demon in the form of a young girl, a young girl that feeds on you with its vampire like fangs.

You witness Sam’s slow descent into madness as she is consumed by the hellish container. She makes attempts to destroy, abandon and ignore it but it always returns unharmed. Jessica & Cole try to help Sam but she refuses to drag them into it. It isn’t long before Sam makes the decision to take her own life.

Naturally, Jessica & Cole are devastated by this. All of Sam’s things are removed from the house but one mysterious object remains; I bet you can guess what it is. From here on, the pair become victims to the wicked box and suffer a similar fate to Sam. They discover that it wills you to commit suicide. It gives them visions of the different ways in which they could do it.

As a result, it isn’t long before they decide to seek professional help. They employ the services of Dr. Harris, a legitimate doctor who happens to be an expert on the subject of demonic possession. She & her assistant Ted conduct experiments using cameras etc.

Will they be able to save Jessica & Cole? Or will they suffer the same fate as Sam and the many more before her.

Sacrilege is a low budget horror movie. It looks fine but there is something off with the overall visuals and cinematography, it just feels kind of cheap. Still, a film doesn’t need a huge budget to be great, far from it.

The films biggest problems are with its plot, it feels far too familiar. A person buying a haunted item from the dreaded yard sale isn’t exactly original. Similarly, the creepy music box is one of those things that feel like they’ve been done to death in horror. While pretty much nothing about Sacrilege feels new, it does execute things quite well.

I enjoyed the aspect in which it would make people hallucinate different ways to commit suicide. This is explored slightly but I would have liked to have seen more on this. It’s a shame that it had to cut away a lot due to budgetary constraints.

Still, I’d be far too generous if I say that the film did a good job of explaining things. As a matter of fact, it isn’t very clear at all. The demons seem to appear at random and feed on victims. Also, apparently it took a few weeks for Sam to eventually kill herself. Why did it take so long? I understand it slowly drinks your life force and pushes you to the brink of insanity but still.

Talking of things that have been done to death, why must these movies always involve an exorcism?

I don’t know if it was just my copy but the sound was really off. It would be super quiet during dialogue and then ridiculously loud during “scary moments”. Sacrilege isn’t particularly scary but I did like the look of the creatures themselves. The effects used are surprisingly good and they do look intimidating.

Another thing that is surprisingly good is the acting. It does drop off at times but I thought it was pretty realistic and convincing for the most part. There are a couple of unintentionally funny moments but I think that’s to be expected.

Overall, Sacrilege is pretty decent. It feels like it’s ripping off a lot of other horror movies that executed things better. Still, it manages to do a surprisingly good job in its own right. It’s filled with horror tropes but I cannot deny that I was entertained.