The Sacrifice Game Review: A Creepy, Culty, Christmas Horror Treat [Fantasia Fest 2023]
Jenn Wexler's sophomore feature "The Sacrifice Game" bursts with behind-the-camera confidence as a creepy, culty, Christmassy midnighter romp. It's one of those horror movies that aims to make horror fun again, feeling at home on VHS shelves or snuck behind parents' backs for an unapproved after-bedtime watch. Wexler's seasonal genre package is tightly wrapped, keeping the audience in a giddy state of suspense as twists and turns unfold. Shades of cinematic parallels to everything from "The Blackcoat's Daughter" or "The Babysitter" make "The Sacrifice Game" this playfully disturbing road-trip killing spree with a dangerous bite, appealing to the devils inside us hungry for bad-vibes horror served with a crooked smile.
The film takes place over Christmas 1971, at and around Blackvale School for Girls, where students Samantha (Madison Baines) and outcast Clara (Georgia Acken) will spend their holiday break with supervising teacher Rose (Chloë Levine). Bad fortune brings greasy-haired Jude (Mena Massoud) and his traveling band of criminals to the building's doorstep, where he asks for hospitable treatment. Things escalate; Rose must protect the left-behind children while her boyfriend Jimmy (Gus Kenworthy) is gone, and a fight for survival begins. Blackvale girls stick together, as their motto goes — but they'll need a Christmas miracle to see the morning sunlight.
There's a little bit of everything for horror fans in "The Sacrifice Game," a cohesive grab bag of influences from satanic rituals to psychological torments brought on by Vietnam War PTSD. Wexler and her co-writer Sean Redlitz promise frequent bloodshed with an immediate knife plunged into the flesh behind a poor homeowner's chin, as the script details Christmas brutality that leads a trail to Blackvale. Pacing bounces between slasher-type maniacs who believe in demonic summonings over angelic prayers and the disappointment that infects Blackvale as Samantha copes with feeling left behind by her family. Still, and importantly, there's always intention behind the back and forth. Rose's attempts to brighten Samantha's mood are wholesome character development, while Jude's deviant fixation on late December sacrifices foreshadows the hellish doom headed toward Blackvale. It's all proper table setting before the inevitable meetup and academy invasion — then the real entertainment begins.
A cartoonish characterization of psychopaths
Mena Massoud of "Aladdin" fame vies to steal most scenes as the deranged and diabolically bloodthirsty Jude, who reminds me of Robbie Amell's overexcitable Max from McG's cult horror-comedy "The Babysitter." Between Massoud, Olivia Scott Welch as manipulative ex-Blackvale student Maisie, and Laurent Pitre as the weasely Doug, three of the four killers are going over the top with their villain personas which is a delight to audiences who are okay with lively caricatures. Derek Johns as the burly muscle Grant completes the gang, filling out the silent but deadly role with hulking intimidation — a necessary counterbalance to the animated lunatics in his posse. They're giving Tarantino's take on cultists in "Once Upon a Time in Hollywood," as they bathe in Christmas lighting while period-tuned rock records set the mood for impending slaughters. It's a more cartoonish characterization of psychopaths that plays for pitch-black humor, which excels as long as that's your style of sicko.
On the opposing side, Chloë Levine remains an actress who continually stands out in any project. She made such a splash with performances in "King Jack" and "The Transfiguration" and continues to evolve into what should become a household name in "The Sacrifice Game." Levine can make us care so deeply for her characters, whether Rose generates empathy as a compassionate caretaker when lifting Samantha's spirits with secret pie crust ingredients or conveying fear through intensely expressive eyes when fleeing from Jude's crazed cronies. Madison Baines does plenty-good work as the mousier Samantha, and Georgia Acken takes definitive control of "The Sacrifice Game" as Wexler steers the narrative into uncharted territory, yet I want to specifically highlight Levine as an actress whose star power seems limitless based on her growing resume. "The Sacrifice Game" is just one more reason why.
Cool, calm, and collected
Wexler almost feels like a different filmmaker when comparing the tautly wound and cleanly executed "The Sacrifice Game" to her more punk-rock and chaotic directorial debut "The Ranger," which she wears exceptionally well. Christmas imagery of flickering fireplaces and red light saturations adds a slickness to atmospheric flavors, while shot composition translates the ominous feeling of suffocating dread that sustains throughout. Cinematographer Alexandre Bussière adds icky voyeurism atop Wexler's vision as the camera peers outside a suburban home only through the windows, watching the carnage unfold like peeping toms. Wexler nails the seedy aesthetic of "The Sacrifice Game" in the film's first half, before leaning into the more genre-happy shocks that await Blackvale's own and guests alike, not skimping on payoffs that aren't to be spoiled but make this holly-jolly Christmas Horror lover's heart swell.
"The Sacrifice Game" is a topsy-turvy subversion of the particular horror subgenres at play, which delivers the goods whether you predict the third act's outcome or are as bewildered as on-screen characters. Wexler's menacing ode to paranoia surrounding '70s satanic worship has a proper home on Shudder later this year, tailor-made for genre fans who seek ambitious horror tales that thrive in the scummier, nastier shadows where pure wickedness resides. There's no shortage of bloody deaths, and there's a severe bleakness at times, but also themes of women-led fierceness and such a gleefulness around evil representations. "The Sacrifice Game" is cool, calm, and collected despite bringing so many subgenres to the party, achieving tonal unity that should please crowds and leave them craving whatever comes next for Wexler and company.
/Film Review: 8 out of 10