Like Christopher Smith's previous film, The Banishing, Consecration is atmospheric and plays with themes of guilt, faith, trauma and the supernatural. Unfortunately, also like The Banishing, Consecration suffers from a lack of verve and excitement. The ideas and themes are there, but they're not painted in a particularly interesting way.
Jena Malone (watchable as always, even with a middling English accent) plays Grace, a lonely eye doctor with a troubled past. When she learns that her estranged brother, a priest living in a remote Scottish convent, has died by suicide, Grace is suspicious. She travels to the convent to confront the Mother Superior (Janet Suzman) and the helpful-but-odd head priest Father Romero (Danny Huston, notably the only actor who tries to bring some zest to the proceedings). Distrusting their accounts of the incident, Grace turns to Scottish police officer DCI Harris (Thoren Ferguson) to discover the truth. Grace soon learns that "the truth" is not as simple as it seems, as her investigation uncovers trauma and memories she's long since buried.
Consecration is a familiar film, full of standard horror devices like ringing telephone jump scares and over-the-shoulder shots that reveal an unseen creepy entity. Where it shines is in its intriguing, fluid camerawork and use of light. During a scene early in the film, we leave Grace at one end of the hallway as she receives some devastating news. All the while, the camera travels further across the apartment, as if someone or something is watching her in her own home. In another scene, when Grace is having breakfast with the nuns at the convent, Smith uses stained glass windows to cast halos of sunlight that feel foreboding rather than holy.
The mythology in Consecration is full of interesting ideas that become convoluted as it tries to hit too many beats at once. What initially starts as a demonic cult-slash-murder mystery story mixed in with repressed religious trauma turns into a hokey quest for a (un)holy relic that wields powers. The turn comes across a little gimmicky, especially as a few too many twists are introduced towards the end. Granted, the last 20 minutes of Consecration really pick up the pace and builds up to a bloody, ritualistic climax that feels straight out of a '70s giallo — it just takes far too long to get there.
Consecration is an artful movie, with some great, creepy performances and arresting imagery, making great use of open spaces like the windswept hills of the Isle of Skye and the cavernous halls of the convent. As in The Banishing, everything is awash in a hushed, subdued Britishness — everyone is always whispering and the air is heavy with tension. But there are only so many quietly intense conversations and hilly vistas we can watch. For a film about evil nuns, Consecration weirdly lacks a sense of energy and horror.
(IFC Midnight)Jena Malone (watchable as always, even with a middling English accent) plays Grace, a lonely eye doctor with a troubled past. When she learns that her estranged brother, a priest living in a remote Scottish convent, has died by suicide, Grace is suspicious. She travels to the convent to confront the Mother Superior (Janet Suzman) and the helpful-but-odd head priest Father Romero (Danny Huston, notably the only actor who tries to bring some zest to the proceedings). Distrusting their accounts of the incident, Grace turns to Scottish police officer DCI Harris (Thoren Ferguson) to discover the truth. Grace soon learns that "the truth" is not as simple as it seems, as her investigation uncovers trauma and memories she's long since buried.
Consecration is a familiar film, full of standard horror devices like ringing telephone jump scares and over-the-shoulder shots that reveal an unseen creepy entity. Where it shines is in its intriguing, fluid camerawork and use of light. During a scene early in the film, we leave Grace at one end of the hallway as she receives some devastating news. All the while, the camera travels further across the apartment, as if someone or something is watching her in her own home. In another scene, when Grace is having breakfast with the nuns at the convent, Smith uses stained glass windows to cast halos of sunlight that feel foreboding rather than holy.
The mythology in Consecration is full of interesting ideas that become convoluted as it tries to hit too many beats at once. What initially starts as a demonic cult-slash-murder mystery story mixed in with repressed religious trauma turns into a hokey quest for a (un)holy relic that wields powers. The turn comes across a little gimmicky, especially as a few too many twists are introduced towards the end. Granted, the last 20 minutes of Consecration really pick up the pace and builds up to a bloody, ritualistic climax that feels straight out of a '70s giallo — it just takes far too long to get there.
Consecration is an artful movie, with some great, creepy performances and arresting imagery, making great use of open spaces like the windswept hills of the Isle of Skye and the cavernous halls of the convent. As in The Banishing, everything is awash in a hushed, subdued Britishness — everyone is always whispering and the air is heavy with tension. But there are only so many quietly intense conversations and hilly vistas we can watch. For a film about evil nuns, Consecration weirdly lacks a sense of energy and horror.
