Sacrifice (2016 film)

Last updated

Sacrifice
Directed by Peter A. Dowling
Written byPeter A. Dowling
Sharon Bolton
Produced byJosef Brandmaier
Gertjan Rooijakkers
Margrit Staerk
Lawrence Steven Meyers
Anne Tweedy
Robert Cullen
Starring Radha Mitchell
Rupert Graves
CinematographyDave Grennan
Edited byPhilip Cullen
Music by Benedikt Brydern
Distributed by IFC Midnight
Release date
  • April 29, 2016 (2016-04-29)
Running time
91 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Sacrifice is a 2016 American thriller film that was written and directed by Peter A. Dowling, and starred Radha Mitchell and Rupert Graves. It was filmed in Ireland, in Shetland in the United Kingdom, and New York City. [1] The film is based on the book Sacrifice by Sharon Bolton.

Contents

Plot

Tora Hamilton (Radha Mitchell) is an obstetrician who moves together with her husband, Duncan (Rupert Graves), to the remote Shetland Islands, 100 miles off the northeast coast of Scotland. Deep within the soil around her new house, Tora finds the body of a girl with runes carved into her skin and a gaping hole in her chest where her heart once was. Ignoring warnings to leave the body alone, Tora uncovers frightening connections to an ancient legend. [2]

With her expertise as a physician, she recognises that the murdered woman gave birth to a child and that she was murdered less than three years ago, as the body would otherwise have decomposed due to flooding. Using an X-ray of the jaw, she is able to identify the victim as the wife of the head of adoptions, who allegedly died of cancer. She is helped by the six-week pregnant policewoman Dana Tulloch, who is presumed dead in a car chase.

In the film, Tora discovers a satanic cult: The men in the cult used to abduct women who were supposed to give birth to children and murder the women nine days after giving birth. This cult has survived and her husband's family is also part of the cult. Her husband therefore injected himself with a contraceptive to prevent his wife from also being sacrificed after a pregnancy. Instead, he wants to sacrifice Dana Tulloch, who survived and was captured, and adopt her baby.

Tora frees Dana from captivity and is supported by her husband, who turns against the members of the cult and whose father dies in the end.

Cast

Reviews

According to Neurotic Monkey of Tiny Mix Tapes, "Sacrifice isn’t a bad film, it’s just not a good one. It lacks the twists and turns needed to really sell the ideas at play, which is a shame as there is certainly a good idea for a movie in there. Perhaps if it had been shot with more flair, or had something else to highlight besides the plodding plot, it could be redeemed." [3]

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References

  1. ↑ "Sacrifice (II) (2016) : Filming Locations". IMDb.com. Retrieved 2016-06-03.
  2. ↑ "Sacrifice". IFC Films. Retrieved 2016-06-13.
  3. ↑ Neurotic Monkey (2016). "Sacrifice". Tiny Mix Tapes . Retrieved 11 May 2018.
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