The Sacrament (2013) Ripples of Jonestown

If you know the story of Jonestown, then you'll know the story of Ti West's intense The Sacrament.

For those who have no idea about the real-life horror that was Jonestown, here it is in a nutshell:  in 1978 paranoid cult leader Jim Jones creates a "utopia" in Guyana (with armed guards and restrictions on leaving), and when he feels threatened, he murders investigators and coerces his own followers to commit mass suicide.  Over 900 people - men, women, children - died whether they wanted to or not.  It's a chilling chapter in world history that should never be repeated.

Director Ti West is a modern master of suspense.  His horror films tend to be disturbing on a less visceral level because he has mastered the slow build, as he demonstrated with The House of the Devil and The Innkeepers. You know what's going to happen in the case of The Sacrament, but you're powerless to stop it from taking place.  It's a modern retelling of the actual incident, told through the lens of the found footage genre as a documentary piece for the edgy Vice news series.

Vice documentary makers Sam and Jake (horror superstars A. J. Bowen and Joe Swanberg) decide it would be a great story to accompany their friend and photographer Patrick (Kentucker Audley) to Eden Parish, a secluded commune in an unnamed country.  His sister, Caroline (Amy Seimetz), a recovering drug addict, has beckoned him to come and visit, to see how her life has turned around.  From the moment the three gentlemen arrive, they're dubious.  The tour guides have guns and seem suspicious of outsiders.  Caroline meets them at the gate, and everything seems better on the inside.  People are happy and thankful, hardworking and making no bones about their love for the commune's founder, known only as "Father" (Gene Jones).  An interview is arranged with Father, and the congregation is excited.  Well, most of them anyway.  One mother and her daughter don't exactly seem as crazy about the place as others, but show definite fear.  Sam's interview with Father is reserved, strange, and a little off-putting.  It's clear to Sam and his colleagues that they're being manipulated.  The congregation holds a party for the guys, but things don't seem right:  the woman and her child plead to be taken out of the commune, Patrick disappears with two girls who were basically commanded to initiate a little orgy with him, Caroline has her own dark side.  Of course, at the center of it all:  Father.  After a tense night, everything unravels in the morning as the guys decide they need to leave and Sam wants to take some of the congregation with him.  Everything seriously unravels in a Jonestown sort of way.

It's a familiar story, but West has made this movie his own.  Sure, we know the story before we hit "play," but it's how West tells it.  He paces the tension so expertly, and is complemented by his friends and cohorts Bowen and Swanberg - a lot of same-thinking people helped make this movie.  Tying the film together is Jones' performance as the charismatic "holy man" with a pleasant Southern drawl and a grandfatherly chuckle.  He's disarming and creepy all at once, playing a new version of Jim Jones with reserved dread.  The hold he has on these people - using religion as a whip - is frightening and yet something seen all too much in the real world. Thrown in great performances by Audley, Seimetz, and several members of the congregation who came off as real, desperate people.

It's not an easy movie to watch.  The plot is rooted in real life with no ghosts or demons, except for the ones that haunt people every day.  Chilling and well-crafted, be prepared to watch a palette-cleanser afterwards - and that's a compliment!

Meanwhile, here's the trailer:

Roots of Personal Horror: Fears As A Kid (Part I)

Everyone has their own story. We're as different as our own fingerprints. And among those personal differences, we have differences that fall under various umbrellas, including that of social experience. And with those unique experiences come unique fears, depending on where and how one grew up.

The boat that is this particular blog entry set sail early last week. I teach library media in an urban school, which is a far cry from the rural Midwestern town in which I was educated. With the widely varied experiences I've had in my life, I have had little problem adapting to environments unlike the ones closest to me. In fact, I cherish the chance at the challenge or the adventure.

During an eight-grade class, one of the young men handed in his worksheet dealing with Black History Month. One of the names I had the kids research was the brave Medgar Evers. As is well-known, Evers was murdered in 1963 by cowards that were part of the Ku Klux Klan. This student and I fell into a great conversation about Evers, and during the course of the talk, he asked me what the KKK was, as he'd never heard of them. I described them as an "evil, racist gang that hated...actually feared anyone different from them." The young man's expression turned wistful and he admitted to me that he was just chased the week before by a gang that "tried to jump [me]." I told him I was glad he got away, and he continued on about the experience. "They wanted me to join their gang because I'm fast," he said. "But they couldn't catch up to me. " He described how they flanked him, how they ordered each other to "take him down," and how his cousins who are actually in the gang protected him by telling the others to lay off.

"That has to be scary," I told him. "I'm really glad they didn't get their hands on you." He smiled - as many of these children do when an adult expresses genuine care for them - and told me something hopeful, "They want me in their gang, but I won't ever join a gang. They'll keep coming after me, but I won't do it." I patted him on his back and said, "Good. But just be careful, got it?"

I thought about that conversation. I thought about how different his childhood is from what mine was. Yeah, we can't all have the same things or be the same way - nor should we as being unique is what is so interesting - but I couldn't help but think about how wide apart our fears were.

When I was in eighth grade, my biggest world fears centered around the Cold War. On a personal level, however, there were no gangs, per se. Not much "hard knock life" in the small town of Cadillac, Michigan, at least not compared to Bridgeport, Connecticut. Worlds apart. Sure there were the "Jock vs. Burnout Fights" that happened every other day, and the worst that would happen would be someone might have brought a small knife to the rumble. People had rough lives, but I only knew my own life.

I can only imagine the fear that my students live with daily. Torn-apart families, drugs, gangs, and at the center of it all, violence. Violence to each other, from their parents, from others in their community. I wish they could have their childhoods, lives without the real-life fears, but I know it's just that: real life.

Doesn't stop me from wishing though.

5 Things That Skeeve Me Out

I'm someone who is not that easily offended or grossed out by much. I'll watch something with the intestine count of Dead Alive and suddenly remember I need to buy sausages for breakfast. Gross-out comedies don't turn my stomach unless the jokes suck.

But that's not to say I don't get skeeved out by little things. Well, little things to the rest of the normal world, but big things to me. I think everyone has a little something or a bunch of somethings that causes shivers, nausea, fright, and general "ewww" moments.

As for mine, here...take a peek:


1. Ants

What, those little things? Yeah, them. This spot used to be occupied by spiders, but after being bitten so many times by them and seeing them thin the pest herd in places I've lived, I've been more lenient on them in recent years. Still don't really want actually crawling on me and biting me, but I'm less jumpy about it now. Ants, however, are a different story. I'd never really cared for being around them since I was a kid and picked one up to check out its story and got pinchy mandibles instead. I got older and eventually moved to Florida. I recall one evening, I was pulling the infamous "Kramer pushing the gas gauge" gimmick from Seinfeld and lost the bet. After getting a little tank full of gas at a nearby station, I set about pouring it my car. I felt a little tickle around my ankles and calves, but wasn't paying much attention. Suddenly, WHAMM-O...what felt like a thousand tiny samurai swords fired into both legs. I dropped the gas can, swore in two known languages and maybe one I made up on the spot, and started with the swatting. I then found out why they're called "fire ants." It felt like I'd been torched. Fortunately, it all healed fairly quickly, but I was forever scarred on the inside. It was like one of the ants was a hardened general who shouted out the order "Alright, soldiers - BITE!" Nasty little buggers.



2. Approaching an unflushed urinal

OK, I know, this is really just an uncouth subject, but I'm sure I'm not the only one who can appreciate this. How hard is it to flush a damn urinal? The handle is right there. We all know why we use urinals, but I don't want the evidence of another's existence to remain after they leave. The restroom's already an unclean place - especially in places like sports stadiums, bars, whatever - a little common courtesy would be appreciated.



3. Socked feet rubbing against short carpet

Yeah, huh? The sound of that fabric on fabric reaches into my soul and pokes it straight in the eyes. Most people get the shivers from fingernails on blackboards, but I get the same chill from this sound. Here, just take off your shoes if you're wearing any, find some short-pile carpet, and if you're wearing socks, start scooting your feet like you're priming for a run. Yeah, that's the sound. Thanks, I'm getting the shivers now.



4. Things just under the surface of the water

I love water, and I love to swim, water ski, go boating, you name it. But if I see something just under the surface, I'm going to get creeped out. Sunken boat you can see right there below the ripples? Chills. Something you can't see, but you know is there? You know, like when you jump off a boat in the ocean and you know there might be sharks around? It's that feeling. And I've done that, too. The shark thing is pretty understandable, but something stationary? That I still don't get. I'm pretty sure the origins for this nutty thing came from when I was a kid and I saw the trailer for Shock Waves on TV. Those blasted Nazi zombie-things shuffled along - you guessed it - just under the surface of the water. Damn it, it's still creeping me out! Check out the trailer:



See where that could get into a kid's head?


5. Biting into something crunchy when the food is supposed to be soft

More than I like swimming, I love food. I love it enough that I have to discipline myself when I'm around it. Wait...no...I don't love food that much, get yer minds outta the gutters. I always take for granted that my food has been prepared perfectly, no matter if it's Burger King or Morton's Steakhouse. That's what makes a crunchy surprise in a soft food so frustrating. Perfect example: frying up some eggs, then taking a bite only to find that a stray shard of egg shell has plopped into what was a delicious breakfast. *Crunch* After that, I'm so paranoid about more shell that I'm not thinking about how good the eggs are. Then the rest of the day is ruined. Well, at least until my next meal. But that unwanted crunch has anchored into my subconscious.

Hey, fellow zombie apocalypse survivors, I know you all have things that skeeve you out. Leave a comment, say hi, and tell me the little things that skeeve you out. Don't be shy. I mean, look at my list. Nutty.

Be safe out there.