SATOR (2019)
Label: Cauldron Films
Region Code: Region-Free
Rating: Unrated
Duration: 85 Minutes
Audio: English 2.o Stereo and 5.1 Surround with Optional English SDH Subtitles
Video: 1080p HD Widescreen (2.40:1)
Director: Jordan Graham
Cast: Michael Daniel, Rachel Johnson, Aurora Lowe, Gabriel Nicholson, June Peterson, Wendy Taylor
Horror from deep woods comes our way courtesy of Sator (2019), an abstract bit of Lovecraftian isolation terror about a family under the thrall of an entity known as Sator. What Sator is could be any number of things; it could be a Satanic presence, a protective spirit, a backwoods cult, or it could be a shared mental illness, and that writer-director Jordan Graham doesn't care to elaborate too much about it makes this handcrafted ultra-indie that much more intriguing. In it certain members of a family believe in the entity Sator, with the elderly and dementia afflicted matriarch Nani's (June Peterson), only moments of clarity come when falling under the spell of the enigmatic entity. She says she hears the entity's voice in her head which results in fits of creepy auto-writing, with granny's hand guided by the potentially malevolent spirit.
While the dementia afflicted Nani is cared for by granddaughter Deborah (Aurora Lowe) her grandson Pete (Michael Daniel) is also deeply enthralled by the Sator entity. He lives alone in a remote cabin-in-the-woods where he spends his days hunting the deep forest, looking through family scrapbooks, watching trail-cam footage in search of signs of Sator or it's followers, and listening to eerie cassette tapes recorded by is missing and presumed dead mother (Wendy Taylor) as she talks about her belief in Sator. Occasionally Pete is joined by his brother Adam (Gabe Nicholson) for day hunting excursions, but otherwise he spends his days in isolation with his dog.
Shot in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the Pacific Coastal area of California the locations used for this isolation terror not only look gorgeous but are well shot by Graham, the deep greenery of the isolated forest and the rugged terrain makes for a desolate backdrop for the unnerving events that are happening around this family, including the sudden arrival of a Sator itself, or at least some sort of Sator worshipping cult members, adorned in animal furs, deer skulls and gloves taloned with the jawbones of small animals - it's the stuff of a folk-horror nightmares. This is the sort of film that might take a few watches to get into, I started watching it three different times but was not in the mood to make it more than a few minutes each time, and while that might sound like a non-starter, I found that when I eventually in the right frame of mind and not distracted I found it to be quite a creepy film that was hard to shake. It's a slow burn in the best way, it's has an ominous tone that rings throughout with an eerie, pervasive dread that gets under your skin like a damp, cold morning. It's ambiguous and non-defined in a lot of ways, which could prove unsatisfying to those looking for definitive closure, but if you don't mind you horror on the more ambiguous side of things this slow-burn folk horror delivers the dread-filled goods.
The film is a one man production with Jordan Graham pulling duties as writer-director-editor-cinematographer-composer, building the interiors of the cabin in his backyard and shooting the film over a period of seven years on weekends while pulling in favors from friends and family. It's handcrafted from the ground up, and the result is an sort of abstract slice of isolated folk horror/cosmic terror that I think is hard to shake once it gets it's bony jawbone fingers into you.
Audio/Video: Sator (2010) arrives on region-free Blu-ray in 1080p HD widescreen (2.40:1) from Cauldron Films, shot on digital the film is free of photochemical blemishes and looks solid in HD. It's shot in a variety of formats as it transitions from scope to 4:3, from color to black and white, but it looks great throughout. Audio comes by way of English DTS-HD MA 2.0 stereo and 5.1 surround with optional English subtitles. The 2.0 is solid, delivering dialogue, score and creepy sound design with finesse, but the 5.1 is they way to go, this has a creepy sound design that impressively makes use of the surround sound stage.
Extras include an Audio Commentary with director-writer-producer-cinematographer Jordan Graham that gets into the nitty-gritty of making a handcrafted horror film, plus a brief 2-min Behind-the-Scene montage that showcases the making of the film, including the building of the cabin, plus a 2-min Trailer for the film.
The standard release version of Sator from Cauldron Films is a single-disc release with a two-sided non-reversible sleeve of artwork housed in a clear Viva Elite keepcase.
The limited edition of 1000 version Blu-ray is still available directly from DiabolikDVD for $27.99 at the time of this review, and aside from the extras listed in this review also includes a limited edition Slipcase and Mini Fold-Out Poster.
Special Features:
- Audio Commentary with director-writer-producer-cinematographer Jordan Graham
- Behind-the- Scenes (2 min)
- Trailer (2 min)
Screenshots from the Cauldron Films Blu-ray:
