I had never heard about this 2009 horror movie titled "The Sacred" prior to now in 2020 when I had the chance to sit down and watch it. And it being a horror movie that I hadn't already seen, of course I found the time to sit down to watch it.

However, "The Sacred", from writers Sharon Reed and Jose Zambrano Cassella just wasn't an outstanding movie. Sure, it was watchable, no doubt about it. But this movie was by no means an impressive foray into the horror genre, nor was it a particularly memorable movie. The whole movie just reeked of being too generic and predictable.

But hey, at least it was not amongst the worst of horror movies around, and that counts for something at least.

Now, the storyline in "The Sacred" was pretty straight forward and very easy to follow. But the storyline and plot were being held back and weighed down by its over-predictability. The writers just offered no surprises to the viewers as the movie trotted on.

The acting in the movie was adequate, but the actors and actresses were struggling with a limited script in terms of dialogue, events and having characters with as much appeal as wet cardboard.

I suppose "The Sacred" has some worth if you are a newcomer to the horror genre. But for a seasoned horror veteran as myself then this was a mere stroll in the park.

Not an overly enjoyable movie, nor is it a movie that I will be returning to watch a second time around, much less being a movie that I would willingly recommend that you spend your time, money and effort on.

My rating of "The Sacred" lands on a three out of ten stars.

The beginning was the best part. Somewhere in 1709, probably in North America, there was a ritual killing by way of tying someone up, and letting the zombies kill him. The zombies here were very cool and scary. Real twisted.

Then the present day and our team of young people are introduced. What we have here is a some full on garbage dialogue to get to know the victims of this film. You have to get to know them so when they get offed you feel a little bad. Anyway, the dialogue is pretty bad. And the acting is just plain boring. So, I guess the directing of the actors was pretty bad too. So we get through the boring stuff. And finally the horror comes back. And it's good. Good kills, not as twisted as the beginning but good. The ending was not good. They should have ended it with the guy pulling the last girl out of the water and taking her back to the zombies. Not to do a cop out dream sequence.

Rating is a B-, or 6 stars. Mostly for the beginning

The film opens in 1709 as a group of Native Americans use a sacred/haunted river island as judgement. We see the victims of the murderer perform their judgement. We switch to the future as 5 students want to investigate the area. They obtain a reluctant guide who won't go near the place, but puts them in the right direction. There was once a family that lived there, who were all killed.

After being warned to leave before sundown, hearing voices,and needing medical attention the students opt to stay the night. Oh yea, it also seems this tribe had its own written language similar to other local tribes. Something else my history book missed.

You know what is going to happen. Students will be judged and haunted by their past sins.

I liked the concept of the film, however the characters were a bit dry. They didn't grab me. They needed stronger characters with better dialogue and sins.

Parental Guide: F-bomb. Brief sex scene. No nudity.