Review: A ritual ‘Sacrifice’ of your time

“Sacrifice” is a contrived thriller that aims — and summarily misses — at being a kind of “Rosemary’s Baby” meets “The Wicker Man.” That the film looks good matters little when director Peter A. Dowling’s script, based on the novel by Sharon Bolton, is filled with so many thinly drawn characters, blunt warning signs and telegraphed plot points.

Tora Hamilton (Radha Mitchell), a New York obstetrician plagued by a series of miscarriages, moves with her Scottish-born husband, Duncan (Rupert Graves), to his native Shetland Islands where, he asserts, adopting a baby will be easier than in America.

But when Tora unearths a ritualistically murdered corpse buried on her new property, it sets her on an obsessive — and not quite justified — hunt to unravel the mystery against the obvious wishes of police, residents, Tora’s colleagues at a local hospital (where she seems to barely work), her husband and others. Meanwhile, Tora and Duncan move ahead with their adoption plans which, given all the evil-eyed intrigue afoot, won’t likely be a walk in the highlands.

The movie hurtles forward with little subtlety or depth as well as such clichéd utterances as “I don’t pay you to think!” Don’t sacrifice your time on this one.

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‘Sacrifice’

Not rated

Running time: 1 hour, 31 minutes

Playing: Arena Cinema, Hollywood; also on VOD