CONSECRATION, Effective, If Familiar, Old-School Christian-Themed Horror – Armessa Movie News

In Christian mythology, a serpent wrapped around a cross signifies the triumph of good over evil (i.e., the redemptive power of Jesus Christ defeating the corrupting presence of Lucifer/Devil).

Another, more generous interpretation would suggest not triumph, but never-ending conflict for the souls of humanity. The serpent, long associated with the Devil in the Book of Genesis offering Eve the forbidden fruit (knowledge), thus dooming humanity to war, strife, famine, and mortality, can be also interpreted as symbolic of pre-Christian paganism and its struggle, also seemingly perpetual, with the Christianity that sought to erase its competitors from the hearts, minds, and souls of potential believeers across Europe and beyond.

That conflict between Christ and its definition of the Devil, of Christianity and paganism, animated writer-director Christopher Smith’s (Black Death, Triangle, Severance) latest addition to the horror genre, Consecration, a twisty, time-bending supernatural mystery-thriller set at an isolated convent on the Scottish Isle of Skye. Long on intriguing, if underdeveloped, ideas and short on traditional scares, Consecration will certainly disappoint viewers expecting an unrestrained, full-on foray into the “nunsploitation” sub-genre apparently promised in the marketing materials and poster art.

Consecration opens with a deliberately perplexing scene involving the central character, Grace Fario (Jena Malone, Donnie Darko, Contact), a London-based optometrist, and a gun-toting nun, before hitting the rewind button for most of its remarkably efficient, economical 90-minute running time. The Grace we meet a second time is still in London, still an optometrist, but she hasn’t received the disturbing, tragic news of her brother’s unexpected death.

A Catholic priest, Michael (Steffan Cennydd), apparently died in a murder-suicide in the aforementioned isolated convent on the Isle of Skye. It’s enough to turn Grace’s world upside down and compel her to travel to the island and start an unofficial investigation into Michael’s death herself.

When she arrives at the convent, she meets the Mother Superior (Janet Suzman), a not particularly friendly or open nun who obviously has little, if any, interest in offering Grace answers about her brother’s death except whatever’s strictly necessary, claiming Father Michael “fell to the darkness,” before plunging from a nearby cliffside, the site of the convent’s ancient, long unused predecessor. A local detective, DCI Harris (Thoren Ferguson), offers a handful of platitudes, but little insight into what could have caused Grace’s devout brother into multiple acts of violence.

Almost immediately, Grace finds herself awakening at the convent, the result of passing out after viewing her brother’s body at the local morgue, her outsider clothes exchanged with the white garments of a novitiate. It’s enough — or should be enough — for anyone to flee back to the mainland and leave the mystery of her brother’s death to the local authorities to solve. Grace, though, can’t. She’s driven initially by a desire to understand her brother’s actions and later, to reconcile the flood of memories, visions, and premonitions that take ahold of her conscious mind with the atheism she embraced long ago.

Not even an outwardly friendly Vatican-sent priest, Father Romero (Danny Huston), can offer Grace any of the answers she desperately wants, setting in motion the central conflict between the Church and their conception of the Devil, faith versus reason (as always), and Christianity and neo-paganism. Grace begins to believe that something — or someone (a guardian angel) — continues to intercede on her behalf, protecting Grace from potential harm.

While Smith does little to hide Consecration’s ultimate destination, especially for anyone even vaguely familiar with his narrative and thematic preoccupations, he still manages a consistently watchable, if inherently, predictable effort that asks more questions than it answers, including where audience sympathies should ultimately, with Grace, a literal victim of history, treated as an object and not a subject in her own right, or the Church, an oppressive, repressive institution that refuses to adapt to the 21st century.

Consecration opens in theaters today (Friday, February 10, 2023), via IFC Midnight. It will be available March 3 on various Video On Demand (VOD) platforms.