82
Metascore
8 reviews · Provided by Metacritic.com
- 91Original-CinJim SlotekOriginal-CinJim SlotekA masterpiece of squeamishly uneasy, nightmarish mood-making, the demonic-possession film, Sator is partly in the vein of The Blair Witch Project – though much more sure-handed and stylistically sophisticated.
- 86Paste MagazineJacob OllerPaste MagazineJacob OllerSator’s dedication to its own nuanced premise, location and tense pace make it the rare horror that’s so aesthetically well-realized you feel like you could crawl inside and live there—if it wasn’t so goddamn scary.
- Sator is an effective exercise in what the horror genre does best, underscoring awful truths—in this case, dementia and generational trauma—by making them explicitly monstrous. What Graham understands is that there are few things scarier than the ultimate fragility of the human brain and everything contained within
- 80The GuardianLeslie FelperinThe GuardianLeslie FelperinGraham uses darkness and a very sparse score/soundscape to create a truly disturbing work that relies not so much on gore as the uncanny in its most potent form: stillness, pools of darkness and just-visible figures.
- 80SlashfilmChris EvangelistaSlashfilmChris EvangelistaThere’s a lot to love here; searing heretic cinematography included, as long as you’re a fan of horror flicks that *love* taking their damn time. It’s emotionally invasive, disturbing, and brutally unforgiving once Sator’s presence takes hold.
- 80VarietyDennis HarveyVarietyDennis HarveyAnyone can pull off a jump scare or three. Graham immediately manages the considerably more difficult task of conjuring a mood of general dread, suffusing ordinary settings with supernatural unease.
- 78Austin ChronicleRichard WhittakerAustin ChronicleRichard WhittakerIt's a film that you absorb, until it slithers around and engulfs you.
- 75The Film StageJared MobarakThe Film StageJared MobarakEverything has a purpose, from the deer whistle to a clearing of bleached white skulls, as modern medicine diagnoses that which our minds can safely process while our eyes warn us about how much worse things might be outside the realm of science.