Sin Eater is a low-budget 2022 Supernatural Thriller written and directed by Carmelo Chimera, and starring Jessie Nerud, Danny Bohnen, and Scotty Bohnen.
Outside the isolated rural town of Gideon, young drifter Christine (Nerud) picks up a dazed and injured woman by the side of the road. When she offers to take her to the hospital, the woman panics and causes the car to wreck. The woman is killed on impact and Christine is badly injured.
With a smashed face, a broken jaw, and no phone or car, Christine has no choice but to take up residence at the home of town Sherriff Isaac (Danny Bohnen) and his father Abraham (Scott Moore), the local Minister, until she recovers and gets herself some transportation out of this town. Her only contact outside the Sherriff's home is local nurse Elijah (Scotty Bohnen), who checks in on her periodically.
As Christine recuperates, it's not long before she becomes aware of how strange Gideon is. The local church practices a strange amalgam of Christianity and local Pagan traditions. And Abraham, while kindly for the most part, is vaguely menacing in his beliefs. As she overhears snatches of arguments between the three men, she starts to wonder what's going on, what kind of "ritual" is forthcoming, and what they might have planned for her.
Sin Eater contains examples of:
- Braces of Orthodontic Overkill: The appliance holding Christine's jaw together is a nightmarish contraption of wires, plates, and screws.
- Cruel and Unusual Death: Only the one Azazel chooses to lead the Congregation may sit in the Ancestors Chair. Isaac is cooked alive when he tries it.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Christine's sparse backstory is dished out in disturbing flashbacks, showing that she fled from her family after they tried to "cure" her of her homosexuality with a brutal religious ritual.
- Deal with the Devil: Part of the backstory of the cult. While struggling to survive in the untamed wilderness, the ancestors of the town struck a bargain with the demon Azazel: he would provide them protection and prosperity in exchange for their worship and the occasional ritual act of cannibalism.
- Demonic Possession: The leader of the Congregation is possessed by Azazel when they sit in the Ancestors Chair. Only the leader is allowed to sit there.
- Downer Ending: While possessing Christine, Azazel declares Elijah, the only person even remotely nice to Christine, to be the "weak one of the herd," and the chosen sacrifice. How much influence Christine has over this choice is unclear.
- Facial Horror: Christine's smashed-in face is shown in nauseating detail in the aftermath of the car accident. Afterwards her face is covered in bruises and her mouth is sealed shut with a tangle of metal wires.
- I'm a Humanitarian: The horrible secret of the Congregation: Azazel demands that they ritually consume another person as payment for the community's debts to him.
- Offing the Offspring: Isaac killed his own young daughter when she witnessed the ritual.
- Rule of Symbolism: Christine's wired-shut mouth. A woman at the mercy of a patriarchal cult of creepy rapacious men, she has been both literally and metaphorically silenced.
- Sibling Rivalry: While not blood siblings, Isaac and Elijah are constantly at odds with each other for Abraham's approval as his successor. Unfortunately for both of them, Azazel doesn't think either of them is worthy to lead.
- Stepford Smiler: Abraham, Isaac, and Elijah are all very outwardly pleasant. But they're all very clearly more dangerous than they seem. Especially Isaac, who actually tries to force himself upon Christine at one point.
- Stop, or I Shoot Myself!: To deny the cult their sacrifice, Christine jumps into the Ancestors Chair. But instead, Azazel chooses her as his vessel, and Christine assumes leadership of the cult.
- Straight Gay: Almost nothing is made of Christine's sexual orientation, apart from her backstory.
- Token Good Teammate: Elijah is the only member of the Congregation who actually seems to care about Christine, and the only one who objects to making her the sacrifice.
- Town with a Dark Secret: Gideon is a creepy small town ruled by a vaguely-Christian cult. Christine unravels the secret while convalescing.
