“Some houses were never meant to be a home”. Here’s your latest look a horror genre master Christopher Smith’s new film The Banishing. The film stars Jessica Brown Findlay (Brave New World, Harlots) and lands in cinemas and on digital platforms on 26th March. Sean Harris (Red Riding, Mission: Impossible) and John Lynch are also amongst the cast of the movie which premiered at last year’s Sitges and Frightfest genre festivals. The Banishing trailer can be seen below.
Brown Findlay stars as a young woman uncovering dark secrets in her new home; Sean Harris is ghost hunter Harry Price; and John Lynch (Isolation) appears as a sinister ‘man of God’. Smith expertly delivers a period mystery, based around the spooky real life Borley Rectory tale, one that steadily builds to a satisfying climax, twanging the nerves along the way, with creepy dolls, shadowy figures, religious mania and the terror of madness. A story of isolation and a family strained to breaking point.
Here’s the official synopsis: 1930s, England. Linus, his wife Marianne and their daughter Adelaide move into town, where Linus has been posted as the new reverend. He’s been tasked by the Church to renew the villagers’ faith, which has been lost after the disappearance of the previous reverend’s family, who lived in the very same mysterious manor where Linus and his family have settled into. Soon after their arrival, strange events start to occur: ghostly voices, dark figures dressed as monks, mysterious totems, and Adelaide’s behavior becoming stranger by the day. It soon becomes clear that a malicious entity seeks to possess Adelaide and that the Church is hiding a terrible secret…
We caught the film back in October at FrightFest, and we had the following to say:
[The film] emulates] the likes of The Turn of the Screw and The Woman in Black. This means that there are lots of creeping around creaky houses waiting for something to appear and generate a fright. Occasionally though, Smith moves away from the tropes and adds his own sinister flourishes.
You can check out our full review here:
Watch The Banishing trailer below. We also have a pretty cool new poster.
