Probably still best known for her star turn in Stuart Gordon's 1985 REANIMATOR, Barbara Crampton has been quite the festival favourite of the last few years, appearing in all manner of low budget fare from the impenetrably art house (SUNCHOKE) to the frankly daft (PUPPET MASTER: THE LITTLEST REICH). While some of the films have been (to put it kindly) rather below par, her performances in them have always been consummately professional, frequently delivered with an effective and deliciously sinister edge.
In Andy Collier and Tor Mian's film SACRIFICE, getting a release in the UK from 101 Films, she plays a police officer for a small Norwegian village who is keen to question Isaac Pitman (aha!) who has returned home after his mother took him away 25 years ago. There are Cthulhoid statues on sale in the local shop (aha again!) and a cult devoted to something the locals call 'The Slumbering One'. Is Isaac (Ludovic Hughes) going to start growing gills or is the cult more interested in his very pregnant wife Emma (Sophie Stevens)?
SACRIFICE premiered at last year's Frightfest where it became known as 'the one where there's a shot of eggs being boiled from underneath', which indeed there is. It boasts some terrific locations and for such an obviously ultra low budget affair the direction is competent (and believe me that's not always in the case with films that make it into festivals - even Frightfest). In an era when many movies of this type just scrape past the 74 minute mark it seems a shame to suggest that the 87 minute running time of this one could have been tightened up a bit, but there are just a few too many dialogue scenes which feel drawn out, too many sequences with the same 'it was just a dream' punchline, and nowhere near enough made of the potential to build what could have been some great atmosphere, especially in the scenes with the cultists.
Barbara Crampton's performance is excellent (she always gives it her all and what a treasure she is) and there are some refreshingly different locations for the Deep Ones to be hanging out in (or is that under) but ultimately SACRIFICE is just a bit too rough around the edges (and not in a Chad Ferrin's THE DEEP ONES kind of way way) for it to qualify as top tier Lovecraft-inspired horror.
SACRIFICE is getting a digital release from 101 Films on Monday 15th March 2021
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