At the beginning of Glasgow Film Festival, Jena Malone starred in the fantastic drama Adopting Audrey. Now, as the festival gets taken over by FrightFest, the actor is back again with Consecration. This time she plays Grace, a young woman who finds herself in trouble as she begins to investigate her brother’s death at a remote Scottish convent. Directed by Christopher Smith, the mind behind London Underground horror Creep and mind-melter, Triangle, Consecration tackles the lofty topic of religion.
Faith and horror go hand-in-hand and the genre’s history is littered with deep-dives into religion through the guise of the terrifying. Despite all the pre-existing texts, Smith does manage to generate some original ideas, Consecration taking a very (controversial) feminine approach to some of the biggest concepts of Christianity. It’s a ballsy move and one made right by Malone’s mesmerising performance. When first introduced, Grace is working as an ophthalmologist. She is immediately positioned as a woman of science, and as such, is level-headed and sensible. What makes her so interesting is that Grace also appears to possess some strange abilities, namely a talent for seeing things that others cannot. It is armed with this skill that she arrives at the place of her brother’s apparent suicide, and seeks to clear his name.
From her arrival at the convent, Grace ruffles the feathers of those around her. Mother Superior (Janet Suzman) takes an instant dislike to her and sets about trying to convert Grace, whether she wants it or not. This is not handled in a typical horror scenario of Grace being locked up, or anything nearly as drastic. Instead Mother Superior hopes to change Grace by stripping her of her individuality and any signifiers of her personality, and so Grace’s clothes mysteriously vanish. Grace then has no option but to put on the holy clothing of the other nuns. Mother Superior’s plan backfires somewhat though as rather than bringing Grace closer to the faith, the holy attire pushes Grace to connect with her own self.
Grace has a murky past that she has partially forgotten, but the convent setting begins to unlock aspects of her younger life. These moments are told through flashbacks and help to round out this developing character. Much of the rest of the story is filled with Grace reading her brother’s journal and various sheets of scripture. It’s a very sedentary-paced plot, a tad dreary in places, but Smith is deliberately moving slowly to allow maximum impact for Consecration’s climax. Once into the final act, Consecration bursts forth with vitality and rewards the patient viewer’s commitment. Here, the decision to have the nuns clad in white rather than the expected black really pays off. Blood begins to reign and events get Biblical. The ending is both expected and unpredictable, Smith and co-writer Laurie Cook adding just enough diversity to make Consecration worthy of experiencing.
Though not as exciting as Creep, or as cleverly twisted as Triangle, Consecration is perhaps the director’s best film since 2010’ Black Death. Held together by a captivating performance by Jena Malone, Consecration proves there might well be life for a second-coming within the religious horror genre.
Consecration
Summary
An enigmatic tale of finding one’s true identity and calling, Consecration’s fresh ideas are held together by yet another well-composed performance from Jena Malone.
Consecration was reviewed at FrightFest Glasgow 2023. Consecration arrives on Shudder on 19th May 2023.
