October Horror Movie Challenge: Sacrilege (2020)

I was not expecting much with this one and that is pretty much what I got. 

Four old friends, Kayla, Blake, Stacey, and Trish, decide to have a girls' weekend together. They rent out an old cabin at the Mabon Inn while an ancient Pagan festival is also going on. During the ceremony, the girls write down their fears on paper and burn them.  While they proceed to partake in the drugs, drinking, and dancing, one of the parishioners, Mrs. March, warns the girls not to stay till the end and that they should leave now.

They return home and head to bed. Kayla begins to hear noises and sees a hallucination of "Tyler" (some dude from her past that is never really explained). Blake goes for a swim and sees a dog coming for her. Stacey, who is always taking selfies, sees herself getting old.  For Trish, it is insects and bugs.

Weird stuff starts to happen, but everything is just so slow. Even the sex scene is dull.

Our first victim, Stacey, gets it while seeing herself getting old again in a mirror. She slips on her own blood and impales herself in the head on a bit of garden equipment.  The others go looking for her, but the creepy gardener has already hidden her.

Turns out the girls were the sacrifice and the "Goddess Mabon" is killing them with their own fears. While Trish and Kayla are learning this from Mrs. March, Blake is being chased by dogs. Runs until she is impaled on the antlers mounted on the gardener's truck.  I sense a pattern here.

The two remaining girls try to call 999 but this splits them up and Trish starts hallucinating about bugs and Kayla about Tyler.  Trish ends up drinking some drain cleaner or bleach because she thinks there are bugs in her mouth.  Kayla tries to drive her the hospital, but the way is blocked by the pagans.

In what has to be known as Chekhov's Flare Gun Kayla uses the Flare gun from early in the movie to shoot the wooden effigy of "Mabon" and break the Pagans' hold on them. Reminds me of a Batman comic I had read back in 1988 or so, but can't recall which one it was. 

We end with Kayla and Trish professing their love for each other as Kayla tries to drive them to a hospital.

I like the elements of the old creepy Pagan cult still lingering in the untamed places in rural England. That is fun, but this movie doesn't offer much more than that.

Use for War of the Witch Queens

Plenty of good background for folk horror, which is why I watched this one. But as usual, the writers don't quite get things right with mythology. Or more to the point they get it all wrong enough to be irritating.

Use for NIGHT SHIFT

Pretty much any movie I watch this month is going to have uses in NIGHT SHIFT.  For this one, I would love to use the old creepy pagan cult that still lives on in the dark and quiet places of the world. Though the original Wicker Man might be a better model for this.

October Horror Movie Challenge 2022
Viewed: 4
First Time Views: 3