A Saint Maud Review by Spencer Hamilton

HORROR FILM REVIEW BY SPENCER HAMILTON – FROM HORROR OASIS

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The New Age of Religious Horror is Here, and It’s Utterly Terrifying:
A Saint Maud Review

by Spencer Hamilton

Saint Maud Poster & Images Tease A24's Stunning New Horror ...

Religion has been a staple in the horror genre for decades, and it’s easy to see why. The obvious example may forever be 1973’s The Exorcist, with both the book and the movie creating a worldwide fervor. Audiences lined up outside cinemas through the cold to see it again and again, and the film itself caused fainting and vomiting—even, apparently, heart attacks and miscarriages. Cities tried to ban the film, yet it persevered to become the highest-grossing R-rated horror film, a record it held for nearly forty-five years.

This popularity saw a surge thanks to the 1980s Satanic Panic, which, arguably, still holds strong with some people. Whether Dungeons & Dragons actually did initiate teenagers into evil satanic cults (hint: it didn’t) is neither here nor there; what matters is that it cemented the popularity of Satanism and holy water and pentagrams and the Antichrist in popular culture for several decades.

It is this exact Christian-centric sub-genre that we see in films like The Conjuring or Rosemary’s Baby or The Nun or dozens, if not hundreds, of others that had me, well, bored with it all. Satan and sacrifices and upside-down crucifixes and demon-slaying priests look cool, but as far as actual substance, I was never convinced that any of this was truly horrifying. The worst of it, in fact, bordered on Christian propaganda. As someone who is intimately familiar with the type of trauma and psychological damage that can be brought on by religion itself, I enjoyed the films but found them color-by-numbers at best and dishonest at worst.

Enter A24. Now, if you don’t know, this is an indie film studio that has risen to cinematic acclaim in just the last few years, with entries like Ex Machina, Midsommar, and The Lighthouse (not to mention their non-horror properties like Room, Moonlight, and Lady Bird). It continues to keep auteur alive and challenge the viewer. Saint Maud is no exception.

“The film, indeed, doesn’t even seem interested in commenting on the merits of the supernatural or whether or not God is real or if Christianity is true. That’s not what this movie is, and it refuses to entertain as much even by association.”
Spencer Hamilton

Saint Maud, written and directed by Rose Glass in her feature directorial debut, sees a young woman, Katie, picking up her life in the aftermath of failing to resuscitate a patient in the hospital at which she works as a nurse. Now in private care, looking after a former dancer who suffers from stage four lymphoma, Katie has found religion. She is a devout Roman Catholic and chooses to go by Maud. Every moment of her life is spent in penance, praying to her God and offering herself up to him as sacrifice.

As the film progresses, and we learn that this is a very recent belief of Maud’s, the viewer is shown the true genius of this movie. No, this is not another film with actual demons and possession; no, Maud cannot float in the air in defiance of gravity; no, none of the supernatural phenomena she sees is actually real.

This is not a spoiler. This is not some twist in which the film laughs at the viewer and says “Oh, you thought this was The Exorcist 2.0, huh? Gotcha!” The film, indeed, doesn’t even seem interested in commenting on the merits of the supernatural or whether or not God is real or if Christianity is true. That’s not what this movie is, and it refuses to entertain as much even by association.

The story Saint Maud is telling is one of mental illness. Maud is suffering severely. She needs help. She needs therapy. She needs medication. But instead she’s found religion, and society’s need to give religion unquestioned respect means that she will most likely never get the help she needs. Throughout the film, people around her are put off and concerned by her actions and the things she says, but then they see that she is a believer and shrug it off.

Here is where the true genius of Saint Maud lies. Not in flashy demonic exorcisms or a fight between Christian good and evil. But in its sheer honesty.

Another of the movie’s strengths is its unerring empathy for its central character. This is not a “See how bad religion is?!” movie. Its lens clings tightly to Maud’s perspective and shows true compassion for what she is putting herself through. The self-flagellation, the companionable prayers, the cushion of elevated spirituality on which she walks, her sincere desire to “save” her dying lymphoma patient.

“Here is where the true genius of Saint Maud lies. Not in flashy demonic exorcisms or a fight between Christian good and evil. But in its sheer honesty.”
Spencer Hamilton

“Forgive my impatience,” Maud says, “but I hope You will reveal Your plan for me soon. I can’t shake the feeling that You must have saved me for something greater than this.”

That “something greater” is shown in the final moments of the film, and it secured Saint Maud as one of my personal favorites and, I believe, as a horror film that will stand the test of time. It shows the consequences of letting radical ideas run unchecked. In 2021, a time of pandemics and conspiracy theories, that is absolutely a theme that should hit home and have us asking ourselves . . . Who around you is a Saint Maud?

Saint Maud was released theatrically in the U.S. earlier this year and can now be streamed through video on demand. It stars Morfydd Clark and Jennifer Ehle and was written and directed by Rose Glass.

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Spencer Hamilton is the author of KITCHEN SINK, a collection of short stories, and the pandemic horror novel, THE FEAR. He lives in Austin, Texas.