Arrow Video Frightfest Halloween Review: Miracle Valley

Sometimes, you cannot help but admire a film that wears its crapness proudly on its sleeve and just says, you know what – to hell with it.

Miracle Valley certainly fits that bill – stuffed to the gills with poor dialogue, some ropey acting, bizarre tonal shifts and plenty of gore at the climax.

Is it in any way a good film? Oh, hell no.

Is it entertaining though? Oh, hell yes.

Written, directed by and starring Greg Sestero (yes, he of The Room and The Disaster Artist fame), Miracle Valley is one of those ‘cults in the desert’ type movies, where a gaggle of people in robes can carve up people as sacrifices without anyone seeming to realise or notice.

The focus here is couple David (Sestero) and Sarah (Angela Mariano) – who I must admit I assumed were father and daughter when first introduced – a bickering couple who decide to take a break away from it all in the depths of Arizona.

Ostensibly under the guise of giving Sarah a break from thinking about her sick mother, David’s plan is actually to try and track down a never-before-photographed hawk – he’s a professional photographer and reckons this photo could be the gateway to a small fortune.

Anyways, no sooner have they descended upon this isolated retreat (a smattering of their friends come along for good measure) than they are introduced to ‘Father Jake’ (Rick Edwards), who talks of an ‘awakening’ and the mantra ‘Blood Is Life’.

From there-on out it is pretty much chaos, with talks of blood rituals, giggling goon sidekicks, violence aplenty – oh, and Sarah’s blood being special of course.

There were numerous times during Miracle Valley where I laughed out loud – unintentionally of course – but the film somehow maintains this stupid charm where you end up just going along for the ride.

Most people entering Miracle Valley will probably know what they are letting themselves in for (it is Sestero after all) – and, in that way, the film definitely delivers.