The Sacrifice Game operates in highs and lows with the heights being brutal and tense whilst the lows are predictable and dull. Following the blueprint for a horror film and making something original at the same time is a difficult task and yet Jenn Wexler manages it and then some.
★★★☆☆
The infamous Scream franchise (1996-2023) has been revisited many times in the years since Wes Craven’s passing, successfully at that. Eli Roth then sent a lot of buzz through the slasher/horror community, who have been starved of any real quality since Scream hit its peak, when he released Thanksgiving (2023) last month. The Sacrifice Game isn’t quite a slasher film, but it appears to draw from that genre as well as more traditional horror pictures.
A murderous gang led by Jude (Mena Massoud) and Maisie (Olivia Scott Welch) are on a rampage, terrorizing people across town. Their destination: Blackvale School for Girls. An unlucky pair of students has no choice but to celebrate Christmas in the schools sprawling castle-like building, falling into the crosshairs of Jude and Co. Maybe being trapped at school isn’t such a bad thing after all?
Samantha (Madison Baines) and teacher Rose (Chloe Levine) are left petrified and have no idea how to respond to the mayhem, but Clara (Georgia Acken) appears a little too comfortable when wielding a razor-sharp knife. Maisie is a graduate of Blackvale and recognises something about Clara that she can’t put her finger on until it is too late.
The school is something of a playground to Clara—a building that she knows all too well and so can truly evolve into her true form there. What starts as something quite simple develops into a more sinister ordeal at an alarming rate.
This film comes flying out of the blocks with a very cut-throat start that doesn’t lack blood by any means as a random character is slain; it is clear within just a couple of minutes that Wexler has earnt the audience’s attention.
Where The Sacrifice Game falls is that it too rigidly follows several tropes and has the feeling of every horror film that alludes to the devil. Early in the first half we are made aware of the satanic influences through the various symbols, but it then takes a while for the reasons behind this to be explored. In all fairness, this lull that takes place due to the cookie-cutter format is then rescued by the sheer brutality of what comes next.
One of a few haunting moments from young Clara sees her perform a dance not too different from the spindly, robotic dance that saw Jenna Ortega take over the internet in Wednesday (2022). The fact that it comes to fruition out of the blue only adds to just how chilling it is, with the likely awe-stricken reaction from the audience being mirroring by the characters around her.
At times, the movie hangs in the balance, particularly in the middle and if Acken were to drop the ball in this role, then it would fall flat on its face. That doesn’t happen though—the star who played Matilda Wormwood on stage in Vancouver commands the screen in The Sacrifice Game just like Roald Dahl’s beloved character does and so Acken certainly has a bright future.
As the film picks up the pace, various characters split off on to different paths, slightly convoluting the story. The audience is left trying to follow 4 or 5 characters who are spread throughout this aging schoolhouse; given that their objectives differ, it becomes overly frantic.
Stanley Kubrick has performed wonders for the horror genre, most notably with The Shining, and it would be safe to assume that Jenn Wexler makes a nod to the iconic 1980 release with the setting of a grand old building in the middle of the nowhere being further enhanced by the feeling of entrapment that comes with the snowy and sparse surroundings.
Criticising as a non-actor feels ironic but whilst Olivia Scott Welch (from Netflix’s 2021 Fear Street trilogy) and Georgia Acken are beyond superb, some of the other performances feel out of place. As far as the mystery goes though, there are hints early on that Jimmy (Gus Kenworthy) could have a major role to play, only for him to be bonked on the head and never seen again. This could have been handled better but at the very least, it has the viewer asking themselves questions in the first 20 minutes or so.
Basic horror tropes are played up hugely but this shouldn’t be instantly perceived as a pitfall. When a film can add to them and move on the genre, just like Jenn Wexler does with The Sacrifice Game, then it shows that the industry is in good hands.
The Verdict
The Sacrifice Game begins and ends with huge intrigue and so that is already a huge tick by the name of everyone involved with this production. Characters being split up and given equal importance to this degree makes for an entanglement of ideas but overall, great fun can be had with this movie.
Words by Jamie Rooke
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