EXCLUSIVE: Ti West wrote and directed The Sacrament, the contemporary found-footage thriller that world premiered at Venice before showing at Toronto over the weekend in the fest’s Vanguard section. Magnolia Pictures, which lost on an earlier bidding war here for Joe, is finalizing a deal for the pic reported to be for seven figures. CAA is repping the sale. The latest film from indie director West, whose credits include The House Of the Devil and The Innkeepers, is “presented by” Eli Roth who serves as a producer. It sends frequent collaborators AJ Bowen, Amy Seimetz, Joe Swanberg and Kentucker Audley on a harrowing journey into madness and messianic bloodshed that tweaks the horror genre. Patrick (Audley) is a fashion photographer. When his colleagues Sam (Bowen) and Jake (Swanberg), correspondents for Vice magazine, catch wind of a letter he received from his estranged sister Caroline (Seimetz), they decide her story would be a great subject for a documentary — she’s living in a “sober” commune at an unnamed location outside the U.S. While Patrick reunites with his sister, Sam and Jake investigate why members of the isolated community have followed a mysterious leader they call Father off American soil (think Jim Jones). Understandably skeptical at first, the guys slowly come around to the group’s utopian claims.

WHAT IF THE MOVIE SUCKS? It's true, sometimes things you purchase don't live up to your expectations, and that's definitely a bummer, but let's not sink the entire ship just yet. One time I paid a suggested donation to a natural history museum only to find that the dinosaur section was under renovations. I mean, come on, the dinosaurs are the best part! So, I get it. Ten bucks may not be life changing money, but nobody wants to feel like they were ripped off, or didn't get what they paid for.