We’ve just heard that genre filmmaker Christopher Smith’s new film The Banishing is heading for screens this coming March. The film stars Jessica Brown Findlay (Brave New World, Harlots) and is described as The Shining meets Downton Abbey. Sounds great.
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.
Sean Harris (Red Riding, Mission: Impossible) stars as ghost hunter Harry Price; and John Lynch (Isolation) as a sinister ‘man of God’. Smith expertly delivers a handsomely mounted period mystery, based around the spooky real life Borley Rectory tale, 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.
We caught the film at FrightFest Halloween last year, calling the film an ‘atmospheric and unnerving paranormal mystery’. You can read our full review at the end of the link.
The film will hit UK cinemas and digital platforms from 26th March. More as it comes in.
