“Sator” (2019) Film Review
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter - Uphill Both Ways Podcast)
Sator is an independent American horror film that keeps viewers guessing whether the events on display are psychological or supernatural. Writer/director Jordan Graham also edited and scored the movie, which took five years to complete.
This labor of love concerns the titular entity that haunts a family living deep in the woods. Matriarch Nani (June Peterson, performing in such an easy, naturalistic manner that viewers could be forgiven for thinking her scenes were shot for a documentary) spends most of her time talking about Sator, who has guided her life for many years and trained her on “how to be a person.” She has many years’ worth of recordings and automatic writing in her home about the entity, which her adult children and grandchildren have grown up hearing and reading — some believing in Sator, and others not.
Nani’s grandson Adam (Gabe Nicholson) lives alone in the forest with his dog, occasionally receiving visits from his brother Pete (Michael Daniel) and sister Deborah (Aurora Lowe). He meets a strange woman named Evie (Rachel Johnson) near his homestead, and sees bizarre looking figures sporting horns and fur walking through the area.
The very definition of minimalist and slow burn, Sator takes its time revealing the history of the family and Sator’s influence on its members, with gorgeously framed and composed shots to hold viewers’ attention along the way. Though the proceedings sometimes feel a bit distanced, the jaw-dropping climax suddenly and startlingly goes in-your-face (quite literally, for one of the characters), delivering one of the most shocking jolts in recent memory. Fans of hereditary horror and those who prefer discomfiting atmosphere over jump scares and gore should find plenty to enjoy about Sator.
Sator, from Lightbulb Film Distribution, will be released in the U.K. on February 15th and on DVD on February 22nd.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/) and Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast (decadesofhorror.com/category/classicera/). He also writes for the film websites Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Ghastly Grinning (ghastlygrinning.com), and Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com, which has now ceased publication because of the death of its editor/publisher Joe Kane but is available in back issues) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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