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SIN EATER (2022)

Directed by Carmelo Chimera.
Written by Carmelo Chimera, Nicholas Chimera, Robert O’Neal.
Starring Jessie Nerud, Danny Bohnen, Scotty Bohnen, Bill Moseley, Scott Moore, Gretchen Ho, Jason Potter, Jeremy Cumrine, John Crockett, Michelle Holland, Russell Geoffrey Banks, Gregg S. Perry
Find out more about this film here!

A young woman on the run named Christine (Jessie Nerud) suffers a broken jaw and other injuries when she picks up a hitchhiker and then crashes her car. She wakes in the home of the town sheriff Isaac (Danny Bohnen) and his eccentric father Abraham (Scott Moore). Heavily medicated and with her jaw wired shut, Christine finds herself the center of attention while she mends from her accident. Seems Christine has stumbled into the middle of an age-old cult in need of a sacrifice.

SIN EATER is extremely low budget, but not without merit. The acting is…not the best. The lead Nerud isn’t bad, but she is forced to talk without moving her jaw with a makeshift metal mouthpiece, which doesn’t help her communicate her lines with much finesse. She may be a great actor, but this mouthpiece proves to be a hinderance to her acting abilities. I have to give it to Nerud—she isn’t afraid to look bad as sporting bruise makeup and that mouthpiece certainly isn’t flattering and she’s stuck in it about 95% of the movie. Sheriff Isaac (Bohnen) delivers a much rougher performance with little nuance. Even in the beginning when he is supposed to seem like a good guy, his intentions are obvious. The cast is elevated by a skosh by Bill Moseley as a priest who abused Christine when she was a child. His is a glorified cameo, which seems to be the norm in these low budgeters; paying a name actor for a one day shoot to elevate the prestige among the fans a bit.

The story isn’t bad. Cults are a bit overplayed these days—seemingly because of the cult like status exhibited among the different political tribes and each’s inability to understand the other. This theme highlights our mistrust in organized gathering and also plays well by amping the paranoia. For the most part, this works in SIN EATER, though it doesn’t really offer up anything new.

I liked the gutsy ending, though much of the acting doesn’t match the level of drama it requires. There are some really effective nightmare scenes where a heavily drugged Christine sees devils emerging slowly from the shadows. I didn’t love or hate SIN EATER. It passed the time well and had a few moments of goodness. Not the biggest recommendation, but there it is.

Check out the trailer here!!