Shudder Saturday: The Sacrifice Game (2023)

Co-written and directed by Jenn Wexler, her second feature after The Ranger, this is a fun and interesting horror movie that mixes some bloody mutilation with a dash of demonology and a sprinkling of festive holiday, ummmm, cheer. It shows Wexler continuing to move in the right direction with her directorial career, showcasing her ability to provide a fresh lick of paint on some familiar horror movie tropes while also having the confidence to deliver some conventional plot points that will have observant film fans smiling knowingly as things start to turn out as expected.

Samantha (Madison Baines) and Clara (Georgia Acken) are two young girls who end up staying at their boarding school during the Christmas holiday break. There's nobody else around, with the exception of a couple of young staff members (Rose, played by Chloë Levine, and Jimmy, played by Gus Kenworthy), so it's probably going to be a dull time for the girls. That doesn't turn out to be the case though, not at all, because a group of murderous individuals turn up at the door of the school, quickly making their way into the building and revealing their deadly intentions. This group, seemingly headed up by Jude (Mena Massoud), wants to get everything in place to summon a demon. Maybe they don't really know what they're doing though. And if you don't really know what you're doing while trying to summon a demon then you could end up in all kinds of trouble.

Having worked on the script with first-timer Sean Redlitz, Wexler does a good job of quickly setting up the main characters and establishing the central location while leaving a lot of room for the developments that are due throughout the second half of the film. Viewers get all of the information that they need, and not much more, and things are established in a way that leaves everyone and everything available to be violently removed from the proceedings at any moment.

Although Baines and Acken seem to be the potential focus of the film, there's a fluid movement around all of the characters onscreen, with changes in power and loyalties creating a nervous energy that makes everyone a lot less sure of themselves as they were when they first entered the screen. Baines and Acken are both good, but neither actress has to carry the film on their young shoulders. The weight is shared out between the equally talented Massoud, Levine, Kenworthy, Olivia Scott Welch, Derek Johns, and Laurent Pitre. I say equally talented, but both Levine and Welch manage to stand out from the pack with their respective performances, both becoming characters that you want  to see survive the craziness for very different reasons.

Although I didn't like The Ranger as much as many other people, The Sacrifice Game is a film I'll happily recommend to people after something new that doesn't have a big studio marketing department behind it. There are things that hold it back (I think a bit more build up could have helped, giving us some more tension, and the location could have been turned into more of an essential aspect), but it's generally quite a good time, it has enough trimmings to remind you that it's set during the Christmas holiday period, and I can already envision myself rewatching it while keeping an eye out for the more subtle character moments that play into the bigger picture.

7/10

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Netflix And Chill: Fear Street: Part Three - 1666 (2021)

Here we are, the third and final part of the Fear Street trilogy (or, perhaps, the first of a number of film events adapted from the R. L. Stine books). I'll try to avoid spoilers, although I advise that you have at least seen the previous two films before reading this review.

Following on immediately from the end of the second film, Deena (Kiana Madeira) finds herself in the body of Sarah Fier in 1666. We already know the fate of Sarah Fier, which makes almost half of this film seem a bit redundant. There are one or two twists, but they're not executed well enough to make this an instalment that is even on a par with the previous two films. And the last 20-30 minutes whisk us all back to 1994 for an enjoyable, if altogether implausible, finale.

Where to begin here? Let's start with a compliment. Director Leigh Janiak, who was this time joined in the writing department by Kate Trefry, as well as a returning Phil Graziadei, does a decent job of making this consistent in the way it has one main tale to focus on and the overarching storyline that links all three movies. The production design is decent, and there are some nice shots here and there, particularly in the finale. And I still like Gillian Jacobs, who returns for a very small amount of screentime.

That's about it for the good stuff.

Taking the main action back to 1666 means that everyone has to try on an accent. If you thought some of these cast members weren't that great in the 1994 instalment then you're going to tear your hair out watching them pretend to be in 1666. Madeira is, once again, a disappointingly weak lead. And there's no relief this time around, with her character remaining the focus for the majority of the film. Olivia Scott Welch is just fine, but given a lot less to do (in terms of characterisation), and Ashley Zukerman at least gets to have some fun with his role this time around, coming to the fore as the story fully unfolds. Sadie Sink and Emily Rudd are both underused, while McCabe Slye is annoyingly overused (playing a drunken villager who can see signs of evil everywhere and helps agitate people to find a scapegoat and punish them).

I'm not sure if things are a lot clearer in the book(s), but a big problem with Fear Street Part Three is the way things seems to work against the rules that were previously established. The twists and turns may be interesting, to some degree, but they also make you rethink previous situations and wonder why certain moments played out as they did. I might have missed a detail here and there, admittedly, but I don't believe this script holds together as well as any of the others. That applies to a moment in which someone is accused of evil deeds, despite being able to lead everyone directly to an "altar" that would at least cast doubt upon their guilt.

The very end saves it. It still doesn't make as much sense as it should, but it's at least fun, and goes back to the neon-lit mall where we started this journey. You also get some timely music tracks once again, just in case you forget that it is 1994 within minutes of a title card explicitly stating that we're now back at 1994.

This has been a fun way to draw out the experience, overall, but I have to say that this third Fear Street movie is easily the weakest of the three. It lacks the fun of the previous films, for the most part, and also lacks the smarts. I know that some will disagree with me on the notion of the previous two movies actually having smarts, but they did. There was intelligence and decent internal logic there. This film reminds you of that fact, because of it lacking both.

5/10

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Netflix And Chill: Fear Street Part 1: 1994 (2021)

Based on the books by R. L. Stine, and directed by Leigh Janiak (who co-wrote the screenplay with Phil Graziadei), Fear Street Part 1: 1994 (which I will just be referring to from here on out as Fear Street) is an unsophisticated slasher movie that is happy to wallow in the familiar tropes of the subgenre until a supernatural element comes to the fore, providing a mystery that needs to be solved by some plucky leads.

Kiana Madeira is Deena, a young woman who is upset after recently separating from her partner. Her friends, Kate (Julia Rehwad) and Simon (Fred Hechinger), want to help her through the grieving process by helping her direct her rage towards Sunnyvale, the neighbouring town that her ex has moved to. Sunnyvale seems nice and prosperous, which is the exact opposite of Shadyside, where Deena and her friends reside. Shadyside seems to be cursed, deranged killers cropping up every few years, creating a bloody and murderous timeline that intrigues many who try to connect the dots, with one of those people being Deena's young brother, Josh (Benjamin Flores Jr.). Anyway, in typical slasher movie tradition, a prank gone awry sets off a chain of events that leaves Deena and friends on the run from a killer who seems unstoppable. And that killer isn't alone. 

Although I was in the minority with my lack of love for the debut feature film, Honeymoon, from Janiak and Graziadei, there was something there that makes it surprising that it took so long for them to land another chance to show what they're capable of. Fear Street is a much easier sell for them, superficially. It's got the Netflix push, it has many moments that play out as a simple throwback to the many post-Scream slashers of the late '90s and early 2000s, and it's obvious that the budget is a nice chunk of change (judging from the soundtrack choices alone). But it's clear why Janiak and Graziadei were good choices for this material when twists and turns start to occur, and one or two tropes are subverted on the way to a third act that keeps moving further and further away from the slasher movie template viewers were given in the opening sequence.

The youthful cast all do a pretty good job. Madeira may not be a great lead, but that's easier to put up with in the second half of the movie, when Flores Jr. gets more screentime. Rehwald and Hechinger are both entertaining enough, and Olivia Scott Welch isn't too bad in the role of Samantha Fraser, the young woman who unwittingly becomes the target of killers out for blood, literally. Ashley Zukerman is the local Sheriff, and there's a small voice cameo for Gillian Jacobs, who I assume will be onscreen for a while in the next instalment(s).

It may be a bit dim throughout, but you also get a good share of neon here and there and it's never too dark to stop you from seeing everything that's happening onscreen. The score is decent, the soundtrack is a busy clash of tunes from "Now That's What I Call 1990s" throughout the first half, and the pacing picks up in the second half to ensure that viewers should be looking forward to the next part of the story. 

It's just a shame that some may be put off by the first half, with that opening homage to Scream feeling a bit too slavishly close to something that was already quite perfect and the lead character lacking much warmth or charisma. Sticking with it proves ultimately worthwhile though, and it's still a decent bit of bloody fun, overall.

6/10

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