Consuming curious cuisine inclusively, can’t quite cure questionable acute queries when intrusively assuming inaccurate conclusions fueling accusations used to accumulate qualms exquisitely in a unique vacuum beautifully skewing your views on cue quickly.

Written and directed by Carmelo Chimera, Sin Eater is about a woman named Christine who got into a horrible car accident. So bad, in fact, it required her jaw to be wired shut. She woke up in the town of Gideon. She stays with a police officer, Sheriff Isaac (Danny Bohnen) who was the one that found her. He tries to get her to remember what happened specifically to find the cause of the wreck. Unable to speak, she’s using a speak and say device to communicate. I like the use of the camera playing with movements to resemble Christine’s own warped sense of perception.

Jessie Nerud does an incredible job as Christine, a broken woman, struggling to talk again about the incident that caused her pain both literally and figuratively while one strange happenstance after another fills her with a paranoia about her environment not being what it seems to be. Or is it all truly in her head? That’s where the horror elements stem from, her internal conflict. Can she really trust the strangers trying to help her? Are they trying to help her, really?

She soon meets Isaac’s father and the town minister, Abraham (Scott Moore). Over dinner they discuss how they have a unique religion after Christine commented on their bizarre prayer before the meal. The two men bicker about how they must do what needs to be done. Isaac says he needs more time because they don’t know anything about her or who she told about her road trip. Christine has nightmares of Father Dunn (Bill Moseley) performing a bizarre religious ritual with a girl tied to a chair begging for mercy. It’s great to see the horror icon as the scene stealer he is doing what he does best.

Overall, Sin Eater is an engaging mystery leaving subtle clues that make more sense after the climax. It sprinkles in horror elements giving the entire film a sense of uneasy, looming dread. It piqued my curiosity by slowly giving the town’s history in small amounts so not to overwhelm me with exposition while the whole cast is exemplary with their engaging acting. The briskly paced story structure neatly ties up loose ends in logical, rather clever ways.

It’s not predictable, either. I didn’t think it would conclude the way it did. If you like Ready or Not and Hereditary you’d like this. I highly recommend seeing this. And remember, if you are what you eat, are you sure about what you are eating?

 

9 out of 10

 

Sin Eater
RATING: NR
SIN EATER Trailer (2022)
Runtime: 1 Hr. 25 Mins.
Directed By:
Written By:

 

 

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