Sacrifice (II) (2016) User Reviews

Run of the mill, but enjoyable

[Bohemian81 · 6/10 · 30 April 2016]

Fairly run of the mill thriller. A woman moves to a remote Scottish island and stumbles onto a buried body. And so the 'mystery' begins....

Nothing special here but still enjoyable. Overall the story is quite standard and predictable. Even the twists and turns can be seen a mile away. Don't expect to be wowed or anything.

The only thing that lifts this movie in to something worth seeing is the lead actress (Radha Mitchell). Every time Radha was on screen she stole the show in this otherwise bland experience. Her convincing performance makes this movie.

Overall a good movie for a rainy day. Just don't expect Oscar material.

Looks nice, but the story is oh-so-predictable

[Leofwine_draca · 4/10 · 27 June 2016]

SACRIFICE is a horror film that doesn't want to be a horror film. Instead it would rather be a mature police procedural thriller, with lots of mystery aspects, but there's no getting away from the fact that the narrative is rooted in folk horror no matter how much the writer and director try to distance themselves from the genre.

The storyline is about an American doctor who goes to live on the Shetland islands with her husband and soon discovers a body missing a heart. It all points to sinister conspiracies and sacrifice, and she's soon up to her neck in danger. The film is beautifully shot - in Ireland for the most part - with lots of welcome outdoor location photography, and the plot feels like an episode of SILENT WITNESS with hints of THE WICKER MAN.

A shame, then, that the central detective story is so restrained and predictable. Radha Mitchell is a good actress, and she has a bit of charm here, but otherwise the it all feels very routine and difficult to get excited about. I liked seeing Ian McElhinney (GAME OF THRONES) in support but the rest of the cast are pretty boring, and things resolutely play out in the most predictable way imaginable.

When visiting a remote Scottish community, don't trust ANYONE.

[BA_Harrison · 5/10 · 24 July 2016]

Unable to conceive, Dr. Tora Hamilton (Radha Mitchell) moves from the U.S. to the Shetland Isles where she and her husband intend to adopt a child. What Tora doesn't realise is that any character in a horror movie who visits a remote Scottish island where the locals are a bit shifty is destined to fall foul of a pagan cult still practising ancient rituals.

Part The Wicker Man (obvs), part Silent Witness, this mediocre horror/thriller never surprises, from Tora's fraught with danger investigation of the corpse she unearths while burying a horse (it's okay… it's dead!), right down to the cliff-top finale that sees the main bad guy giving our heroine more than one chance to do him in (which she does). Everything plays out exactly as one would expect.

Had writer/director Peter A. Dowling pushed the envelope a bit more—taken a few more risks—this could have been a far more effective flick; as it stands, it feels a bit like a made-for-TV movie-of-the-week.

Dreadful...

[khunkrumark · 2/10 · 2 May 2016]

From the start you know this is going to stink when the lead asks her husband of many years "Your father doesn't know you're a diabetic, does he?", when they are IN HIS HOUSE having dinner! Presumably this didn't seem important enough to talk about before!

A nosy American doctor shows up at a remote Scottish island and without delay starts her own full scale murder investigation after she dug up a hole in her garden that uncovers a body! She immediately gets a job at the hospital, too. She must be a helluva doctor!

The bloody awful music tries to give an atmosphere of suspense for the entire 90 minutes... even when there's NOTHING HAPPENING!

The cult elements are never really explored, apart from a few daubings on walls and bodies... which the cops don't seem to think really matter.

Anyone who gets in the way is bumped off and for the cops it's just another day in the office. Happens all the time on these remote islands.

Somehow the house on the top of a mountain seems to have been FLOODED! How the bloody hell did that happen?

The final 20 minutes play out like the worst episode of a 1990's Ruth Rendell crap-fest.

Overall it's just very silly. It is Lifetime TV for people who think that Lifetime TV needs more murders!

Worth to see it

[BogdanH · 7/10 · 30 April 2016]

I'm not really a fan of thriller movies in which legends and cults are used for a plot. Because most are quite predictable and so it is Sacrifice. Thus, after reading a storyline at IMDb, I kinda knew what to expect.

I admit, main reason for watching this movie anyway, was Radha Mitchell. I just think, over the years, she's getting better and better. I can't judge her acting, but one is for sure: she leaves a mark in a movie.

So, even nothing really surprised me during watching Sacrifice, it got my attention all the time -it's something that makes a good movie in my eyes.

Thus, if you like such genre, I recommend seeing this movie. I give it 7 stars.

Has no baring on Shetland or the island of Unst.

[dspence100 · 3/10 · 12 May 2016]

I reside on the Shetland Islands, and I found it almost laughable that the director or producer decided to put the name of islands in a hat and pick out Unst on the Shetland Islands.

I also used to live in Unst before moving to the main town in Shetland, Lerwick (Leirvik, its Scandinavian title) and if only Unst had such high tech amenities and infrastructures, because it does not. lol

The film is poorly done with obvious editing errors in it.

I also noticed the very strong Scottish accents, which bares no resemblance to the Unst dialect or even this of Shetland.

It reminds me of the islands of Orkney, where children were taken from their parents because one child said the parents were involved in devil worshipping and alike. However, thankfully the children were returned to the parents after it was discovered the child made the story up.

I suspect this is where the Director/Producer got his story line from???

not a perfect movie but enjoyable

[km_staple · 6/10 · 4 July 2018]

It was predictable in some ways but it was interesting and kept my attention. The 2 lead actors were very good. I kept thinking the female detective was in on the whole thing. Kind of disappointed that she wasn't.

Embarrassing to watch

[orkneyherald · 1/10 · 27 June 2016]

Supposedly set in Shetland, this is embarrassing to watch. The film was obviously made in Ireland and I doubt the cast set foot in Scotland, let alone Shetland. The island of Unst, where the story takes place, is a beautifully barren island with a small population. How it is able to support a hospital that features in the film beggars belief. The number of staff needed vastly outnumbers the actual population of Unst. It also manages to change its name during the film.

There are an alarming number of trees visible for a what is described in the film as a treeless island.

The body that is found in a peat bog is clearly found in clay soil. The rituals featured by the "Druids and Vikings" never took place in Shetland and the Druids were never in Shetland.

For no reason at all one scene starts with a view of a fishing village that looks suspiciously like Pennan or Crovie - Why?

It would have been far better if the whole story had been set in a fictitious place.

Stay on the mainland

[jasmcp · 6/10 · 3 August 2019]

I know all you Shetlander's are saying its just bad press but we know you eat your babies, kill off your wives, really love your sheep, etc. 'She's taken one of the boats' how the f*<k did she park it half way up the beach?. All in all a predictable late night tv movie.

Do some research on your location!

[lolli_b_2 · 3/10 · 12 August 2019]

Wow. Just wow. Storyline wasn't bad. Plot holes aplenty. The accents, well even the BBC series Shetland has had maybe 5 people in all its seasons with an actual Shetland accent, this had none. One attempt at an accent (not sure what she was aiming for) was so bad I thought it was Irish. BUT the long distance shot of a motorway? At rush hour! Ummm a look at Google maps would have shown them there's no motorway on Unst. And a massive modern hospital? And the harbour that wasn't even Lerwick? Seriously its not that difficult. Also the pregnancy test scene has no resemblance to how that works in the NHS. JEEZ!

Quite good!

[fil-nik09 · 8/10 · 18 July 2016]

First of all, I don't know why the notes / ratings here are so low - five is really so - so and this film is much better.

I did not really read the storyline of the film except that the woman is moving from New York to S Islands. So, that was what I knew and the rest of the film was interesting to me. It was rather on good pace. Not slow or too rushed. The acting was believable. The setting is good. The story is interesting and has some minor twists which are good. It keeps you guessing. I can not say that anything was predictable as many wrote.

I liked the movie. It was not really great and that blew me away, but for what it is - I give it eight!

Don't know whether because it is British, but the film kinda reminded me of those crime series from England my mother watches :) I don't know their names, but... somehow reminded me of that - and a bit of some Agatha Cristie movies.

OK TV movie

[robertemerald · 6/10 · 6 January 2020]

What struck me about Sacrifice was that it had the feel of a really spooky episode of Monarch of the Glen (2000), somehow confused with an episode of Midsomer Murders (1997), with John Nettles played instead by an American doctor obviously in love with the adventures of Agatha Christie's Marple (2004). It's really a detective story more than a horror story. There is pace and some tension, and I admit I admired the lead's dogged determination. The story is wild, almost wacko, and will certainly make some viewers credulous. The story arc didn't really have any holes in it, which was quite a feat for such a spirally tale. I looked for them, but I have to hand it to the writers, they did a good job. I think the problem was more the premise which was far fetched. Even some of the scenarios beyond the story seemed far fetched. Would there really be a major maternity hospital on an island only reachable by boat? Wouldn't that present mothers with a problem if they came to term early? True, the hospital had a helicopter. The other problem I had was the filmmakers made no attempt to marry the story, with all its heritage, to the cinematography. The location was beautiful, but we only saw glimpses. British lovers of shows such as Marple and Midsomer Murders will enjoy this, but I doubt dire horror fans will be impressed.

A Wicker Man Knockoff With No Real Substance

[Samuel-Shovel · 4/10 · 7 December 2017]

Sacrifice is the story of an American doctor who moves to Wales with her husband. Unable to have children, the couple move back to the husband's homeland, the Shetland Islands, to adopt a child. When attempting to bury a dead horse, our hero discovers a dead body on her property, leading her onto a conspiracy of sacrificial practices dating back centuries. Is this all fairy-tale stuff or can she prove the men on this island continue the tradition to this day?

As my title notes, this plot closely resembles the plot of "The Wicker Man": an outsider arrives on an island, begins to investigate mysterious happenings, and gets in trouble for their efforts. But unlike "The Wicker Man", this movie is far less enjoyable.

I guess I'll start off with the positives. The setting is beautiful. I can watch those Welsh hills forever and the cliffside footage is stunning to look at. I also enjoyed seeing Rupert Graves in something. I stopped watching "Sherlock" a while back so it was nice to see him pop up. He's... okay in his role. I did enjoy the scene where he bashes that guy's head in with a rock, absolutely brutal!

The rest of this though isn't great. The dialogue is extremely clunky; the screenwriters had no idea how to write good exposition. It all feels very forced and rushed. The average movie-goer can see this plot twist coming from a mile away. Within 20 minutes I knew what the remainder of the movie was going to be. The lighting, especially during the climax was horrendous. I couldn't even tell what was going on.

And then just a lot of this plot didn't make sense to me. Why move your wife back to Scotland if you know she's in danger of being murdered by your father and his weird cult? Why would that lawyer use his real name when dealing with that family to take their sister and have her pretend to be his wife? Why did that fake computer tell the doctor in the beginning that the baby was positive for cocaine? We never even acknowledge this. There's a lot more that I have problems with but I've wasted enough time on this.

I wouldn't recommend this movie. It's not good but it's not bad enough to be enjoyable to watch either. The pacing is slow and there's really nothing noteworthy to see here.

WTF - so bad!?!?

[RussHog · 2/10 · 30 September 2016]

How did this movie get made? The shots are all set up really nice - but the plot is so boring. Honestly - nothing happens in the entire film. The dialogue is bad. Now - it starts off pretty good - but then it just filters into pure rubbish.

This woman cannot have children - so she sort of faces her loss by solving this mystery about some pagan Scottish folk who kill pregnant woman - or something - but the movie is so slow and so boring - it's just not good at all. It's hard to care - when the plot is so boring.

The film kind of tries hard to be 'method' - so people are people - and there isn't really good v evil - more than there is levels of corruption - and the film tries to give some characters a moral compass for dramatic purposes - but for whatever reason the character's moral compass just falls flat. It's not unbelievable - it's just hard to care about any of these people.

it could be that the plot is so predictable - and there are basically no good reversals that make it worth watching. What happens can be seen a mile away - then it happens - and its boring.

Risking life, exposing a long hidden secret!

[Reno-Rangan · 6/10 · 14 November 2016]

Based on the book of the name name tells the story of Tora, an American surgeon who moved to a remote island in Scotland with his husband for a new beginning after the miscarriage. Following the life in the new place, she discovers some secrets that are hidden for very long. Her attempt to expose it was foiled, and put her life in a threat. From there where it goes is what leads to a twist and the conclusion.

This is the same old formula for most of the thrillers. The story, its characters and the locations were fresh, but you would know how it all develops and ends. Still a very decent film with a fine pace of the narration. I think some of the coastal scenes were from the same place where 'Sing Street' were shot. But that was an Ireland film and this is Scotland, so I'm confused whether it was Scot or Ire.

Radha Mitchell was okay, and the rest of the cast did not get enough scope for their roles. The direction and the production was not bad either. Except for the familiar theme, it can be watched for once. But not suggest to go for it after watching a good thriller.

6/10

A complete waste of time

[RichardvonLust · 2/10 · 12 August 2016]

This is just about as bad as could be for a film with such fine actors. But Rupert Graves has shown us how tough times can be in his profession. The star of such great films as Maurice and a Handful of Dust has finally descended into formulaic feminist pulp in order to pay the taxman and we are left with 91 minutes of entirely predictable stomach shriveling drivel.

An American doctor is childless and married to the heir of a Scottish estate. The Laird, hardly older than his son in appearance, is the wealthy benefactor of a State of the Art maternity hospital built on a remote Western Isle where he has his castle. He has kindly helped his son to adopt a child from this facility in order to progress the line. And then a dead body with a slashed open rib cage and ancient Runic brand marks appears in the garden - and the rest is depressingly obvious.

The entire cult involved here is naturally made of evil men and all the heroes are wonderfully motherly women with the exception of fading heart throb Rupert who is scripted to be a great husband and potential father - unless one dwells upon the notion that he must have known and supported everything going on in the past - and is therefore just as guilty as the rest of them.

This film is simply a waste of time and space. Put it in the recycle bin where it belongs.

Initially showed potential., but ultimately fails to deliver the goods.😴

[matthewcollins-76772 · 3/10 · 4 October 2016]

Potential, and intrigue out of the gate, with nice location filming, panoramic vistas, and seascapes, but than, about 45 minutes in., it dawns on me, everything I liked, turns into a repetitive, derivative, skip in the record mess, and snooze. This is my first review on IMDb., one of the best web sites, I know of, for film buffs, and hope I am allowed to say IMDb...a treasure trove, which I rate a 10. I am required ten lines of text, which does not make since to me, because, I really don't have much more to say about the film., except, you may like Exreme Measures, Proxy, or Robin Cooks, Coma, better. I tried to write a review on NF., but I did not want to be the first one. So I had a general feeling of lethargy, and sedation, after watching this movie, and say again, it was aesthetically pleasing, for photography, and scenery., but the script, and story fizzled., and for me, the movie, as a whole, was a dud. Next please.

Another movie about those pesky islanders

[borgolarici · 5/10 · 14 June 2021]

This movie was clearly made to entertain you while you doze off on the couch: semi intriguing premise, clunky pacing and the usual European folklore bric a brac composed of small communities, weird rites of fertility and secret cults.

More drama than film but very good nonetheless

[beccabentley · 8/10 · 23 May 2016]

This very much reminded me of the British crime series Silent Witness. Had the same feel to it. Also had a slightly "Wicker Man" feel to it. The characters were strong and though the story was a little far fetched it remained believable and convincing. It isn't a cinema quality film and certainly doesn't have special effects or big budget action scenes but the acting is good and the sense of malevolence and mystery compelling. It is worth watching and it kept my interest throughout. I liked the twists and turns, the scenery was beautiful and wild and created a dramatic backdrop to the story. I felt it was a pity this wasn't a pilot episode of a series as I would have carried on watching!

Utterly dire and predictable

[mareepersen · 2/10 · 28 June 2016]

I really like Rupert Graves and I love the part of the world where this story is set (supposedly The Shetlands but actually filmed in Ireland)... but this film is so incredibly predictable that the viewer is constantly reminded of every other newcomer-to-town-discovers-sinister-cover-up movie that's every been made. How does a career-focused, city-girl American obstetrician possess the ability to operate an agricultural digger in her skill set? Upon discovering a dead horse, why wouldn't she just phone somebody or knock on the door of the farmer - rather than bury it? Why would she then jump into the hole she has dug? We got halfway through and decided life was too short to sit through the remainder of the increasingly ridiculous plot. Never getting that 45 minutes back... utterly dire. Do not waste your time.

Poop just pure poop

[carxlee · 1/10 · 22 September 2016]

This movie was laughable. Never once grasped my attention except for how utterly dumb it was.

I have seen much better movies than this and would recommend saving yourself from wasting your time. You may have better luck with Barney re- runs. You may be a little more entertained.

This is kind of an embarrassment for all actors involved. That definitely would not make their parents proud.

Once again,

POOP JUST PURE POOP

Save your time and hopefully your money by not renting this film.

An Abominable Heap of Rubbish

[brandon_veracka · 4/10 · 17 March 2019]

After seeing the trailer, I was hoping that Sacrifice would be sort of like a new-age take on The Wicker Man (the original, which is a masterpiece), or something along those lines. What I got was far from anything I'd call horror, and even as a drama-thriller it failed at nearly every cinematic bastion to hold my attention.

Absolutely nothing about this movie was interesting, surprising, or shocking, and was the opposite of entertaining. The acting was painfully bland, the cinematography fails to bring subjects to light, and despite being on a picturesque Scottish isle, the settings are boring.

In fact, the one word which could sum this entire movie up would be "boring". If you're like me and watch lots of horror and thriller movies, you've seen this movie before and all of the predictable clichés in it. Skip it and save your time.

No Horror, Bland TV-type Thriller

[twelve-house-books · 2/10 · 22 July 2018]

Yeah, well. No. Not worth the watch. Sorry I did. Masonic Lodge type secrecy/murder. Whatever.

Kunal Trows

[nogodnomasters · 4/10 · 30 August 2017]

Dr. Tora Hamilton (Radha Mitchell) has another miscarriage while working in a hospital. Her rich husband Duncan (Rupert Graves) takes her away to live on an island where she can work again. When her cow dies, she climbs into a small steam shovel and excavates a deep hole only to discover a dead body. The body was apparently killed due to a ritual and she decides to conduct her own investigation getting people killed around her.

Having seen two versions of "The Wicker Man" and "Harvest Home" with Bette Davis, I found this film about local cult rituals to be a let down. Who buries a cow? Aren't they either butchered or incinerated? The film is more of a drama/thriller than horror. The quality was on par with a made-for-TV film, in fact I thought this was a TV movie.

Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity.

Ya Gotta See This Movie

[profgreggwmorris · 10/10 · 3 May 2016]

Composer Benedikt Brydern's minimalist score opening at the start of SACRIFICE is a savagely witty tip off about what to expect from Director Peter A. Dowling's movie. It has a relentless pounding riff that never stops until the credits end for this action-adventure-mystery with what may appear to be familiar horror movie overtones that may distract audiences a little but the savage violence – without gratuitous gore, mind you – and many scenes of sinister happenings will make them focus as the story unfolds.

Here is another tip off about what to expect. In her more than 62 screen credits, according to the Internet Movie Database, Radha Mitchell's portfolio includes some of the best upscale A, B horror and sci-fi movies that required her to fight off flesh-eating aliens, zombies and even a monster crocodile, just to name a few. Here is one more tip off: This is a bloody great, edge-of-your-seat movie with very imaginative plot stratagems and themes, such as this one: The maternal instinct is a force of nature.

What's this? I thought when Bydern's score kicked in early in the beginning. Odd, for that kind of dramatic music for a movie about a doctor, Tora Hamilton (Radha Mitchell) moving with her husband (Rupert Graves), to the Shetland Islands, 100 miles off the coast of Scotland. They're having baby-making problems and they're hoping to resolve them in their new land where Rupert was born.

In the course of her new job as a pediatrician, she becomes involved in the mystery surrounding the body of a young woman with strange symbols carved into her flesh and her heart ripped out. Whoa! The body is found on the property of her and her husband. (Yes, Brydern's music is pounding on.) Some critics might snipe about the very subtle, and I mean very subtle, hints at movies like ROSEMARY'S BABY and The STEPFORD WIVES but trust me SACRIFICE will keep folks on the edges of their seats.