Opening tip: Not even an armed, bloodied nun can save this horror movie.
"The horror movie wastes a good montage with a confusing and empty ending."
Benefit
- Very good first hour
- Great atmosphere
- Amazing performance by Jenna Malone
flaw
- Funny ending that doesn't make sense
- It has no purpose and no personality.
Some movies don't know how to start and take a while to get hooked. Not so with The Sanctified , Christopher Smith's new horror film that starts almost literally with a bang. The film opens with a young woman walking down the street on what seems to be an ordinary day in London. Out of nowhere, an old nun came out and approached him. Dressed in a white monastic robe, she drew a pistol and pointed it at the young woman, smiling softly and looking as surprised as the onlookers.
Not a bad way to start a movie, right? What prompted this nun to act in such a hopeless and atypical way? He is angry? It's young. At a good hour in its 90-minute runtime , The Sanctification is considered a supernatural horror film with better-than-usual cinematography and direction, as well as a good performance by the lead actress. But after unraveling the main secret, the consecration will fail, and you will understand that the film is staged and worthless. It's a shame, because the previous film promised to be better than it was.
obscene incident
After this impressive prologue, Sanctification reappears a few months ago. A young woman about to be shot by a nun turns out to be London eye doctor Grace (Jena Malone). Her daily life is quickly turned upside down by the death of her brother Michael (Stephan Kneid), a pastor in a remote Scottish village. Worst of all, he kills himself after killing another priest. Of course, Grace couldn't believe that her brother had hurt himself, let alone another church member, so she went to the parish to find out.
Arriving there, he quickly realized that something was wrong. All the monks seem to have secrets they want to tell him but can't. Mother Superior (Janet Suzman) must be hiding something she doesn't want to reveal. And the head priest, Father Romero (Danny Huston), is too charming to console Grace. What happened to his brother?
Grace is assisted to some extent by the detective (Torren Ferguson, lost in a secure role), but mostly she alone figures out what he's up to. It helps that the brother leaves behind an encrypted diary that only Grace can decipher, which unlocks many extended flashbacks of his brother's religious upbringing. Grace herself is gradually revealed to be connected to the convent and more than she cares to know why her brother killed himself, and the film soon ends with multiple stab wounds, broken bones, and car rides. time. (do not ask)
Not good enough to be decent, and not too bad to act.
The journey is as interesting as the destination, and to its credit, The Rite is a very effective horror film in its first hour. Director Smith skilfully set the scene and, along with cinematographers Rob Hart and Sean Monet, used the beautiful Scottish setting to create an ominous mood. He also patiently builds out the central mystery of Michael's death and actually makes Grace a somewhat unreliable narrator. It is difficult to imagine the exact setting in which one can believe all this holy horror, but Smith believes, and for a while, Sanctification manages to balance the sadness of grace with otherworldly revelations.
Smith seeks unusual help from Malone, who punishes Grace very severely. In year _ ). neon demon). ). ) a little better. Even though the movie falls apart quickly at the end, Malone makes you want to know what happened to Grace.
But man, that ending was a disaster. It was clear that screenwriters Smith and Laurie Cooke had no idea how the film would end or what Grace was supposed to portray. Is he a living symbol of a supernatural God? Was he a fallen angel doing "miracles" as an optometrist? Or is he reincarnated as Satan? The film is set to have all three things true, but not enough support to make all three believable or satisfying.
Unused capacity
What's left is a bewildering climax that wastes all the good intentions in the beginning. Smith was clearly influenced by earlier horror films, and it's not hard to believe that The Sanctification could join Whiplash and Midsummer as classics in the "independent horror community" subgenre.
But it disappointed everyone because the story wasn't focused and wasn't sure what it wanted. To delve deeper into the rebellious nature of the faith into which he originally entered, or even into the elemental courage of the Omen , proves to be completely useless. I generally agree with this, but the film needs to be supported by the faith it's trying to create. This is what is lacking in worship , and it is a sin that even God cannot forgive.
"Consecration" is currently in theaters.