Saint Maud is a slow movie that can be too slow for some people. The first trailer I saw for the movie intrigued me greatly. It revealed just enough to make me wonder what was going on. I’m always interested in seeing how religion can be mixed with horror, which always works well. This is also the most I’ve ever heard Welsh and I think it’s an interesting language. It adds quite a bit to the movie in its entirety.
Rose Glass wrote and directed Saint Maud. This was her feature directorial debut, and she was able to tell a story that is something that I’ve not seen before. The performance from Morfydd Clark is amazing. It’s understated and complex, something that’s hard to do well. Jennifer Ehle’s performance is an interesting contrast. Her character is more open which leads to a lot of the conflict with the titular character.
Both of the performances are enhanced by the VFX in Saint Maud. Whenever the VFX are used its deeply unsettling. There’s only one time where it isn’t used on an actor but it deepens the performance of Clark, leading into the climax of the movie. The violence in the movie is sudden and surprising. The score by Adam Janota Bzowski adds so much to the movie.
Saint Maud is a deeply unsettling look at how religion can influence someone with mental illness. That might give away a bit more than I would like about the story, but it doesn’t give anything specific away. Saint Maud might also be what some people think of when they think of the studio of A24, which distributed the movie in the States. I watched the movie on Amazon Prime Video. I give Saint Maud 8.5 lighters out of 10. [kofi]
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