The Sacrifice (2005)

Director:

Jamie Fessenden

Writer:

Jamie Fessenden (writer)

Genre:

Horror

Tagline:

Sometimes Friendship Requires A Little Sacrifice

Plot:

A teenage boy moves to a small New Hampshire town with his mother, only to discover that it is being run by an ancient Satanic coven.

Plot Keywords:

New Hampshire | Dunkirk | Spell | Witchcraft | B Horror

Cast

Kevin Belval	...	Coach Warren
Amber Bonilla	...	Student #1A
Andrea Boyd	...	Mary Legget
Eugene Conn	...	Hank
Jeff Delano	...	Bradley Somersett
Anna Dumas	...	Girl in Cafe
Ximon Dunedain	...	Dr. Marshfield
Jamie Fessenden	...	John Lowry
Cary D. Gladstone	...	Policeman #1
Teri Gladstone	...	Receptionist
Robert Kersey	...	Jonathan Kelly
Vicki Laird Rourke-Rooney	...	Prudence Whitehead
Kymra McCarthy	...	Laura Kelly
Sherry Mitsui	...	Mrs. Henniker
Maureen Murphy	...	Student #2
Ford Natirboff	...	Joe
Bob Pearson	...	Eli Corwin
Dan Randall	...	Chief Lewis
Dawn Reilly	...	Student
Tim Robinson	...	Mr. Allen
David Snyder	...	David Ross
Bowen Staines	...	Absent Student
Robert Stiefel	...	Christoph
Aron Theroux	...	Aron

Runtime:

USA:95 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Filming Locations:

Derry, New Hampshire, USA

Trivia:

The satanic ritual scene took two long, exhausting days to film, in the dead of Winter. The scene was filmed in an unheated garage and the temperature never climbed above 40 degrees. During most of this time, actor David Snyder was completely naked and covered in syrup-based fake blood. Actor Robert Kersey was nearly naked, as well. Six months later, the cast and crew went back to the garage to re-shoot some footage.

Goofs:

Continuity: The first time David follows Jonathan home, Jonathan is wearing a different shirt when they arrive at the house than he had on when they were walking through the field. This was due to the two scenes being filmed weeks apart, and the shirt being misplaced in the meantime. An attempt was made to film the scene so that Jonathan's chest always remained turned away from the camera, and the result was somewhat awkward.

Quotes:

David Ross: What are you saying? That they really are vampires?
Jonathan Kelly: Vampires?
David Ross: The immortal undead.

Movie Connections:

Followed by The Resurrection (2008)

Soundtrack:

Wormwood

Worth owning

I was fortunate to see an early version of "The Sacrifice" debut at a small sci-fi/horror convention, where it was very well received by the audience. A good portion of the cast was present for the screening, and the director Jamie Fessenden and lead actor Robert Kersey were on hand discussing the film-making process on various panels.

The film is a remarkable first from Fessenden, presenting a compelling story, a haunting score, and drawing good performances from his actors. Kersey was noteworthy as the new kid in town thrust into unraveling the secret of the town's strange history, and making sardonic and sulky appealing. Snyder also delivered a solid performance as the local friend who needs his help. There were minor technical lighting and sound issues evident in the screened print as the crew became familiar with their equipment, but I was happy to see most of these were addressed with reshooting or editing in the DVD I purchased.