Saint Maud (2019) is a critically acclaimed contemporary horror movie – the feature film debut of British director Rose Glass – that didn’t get a cinema release in Perth, and is now available direct to digital. There’s a cliche now of A24 type modern horror movies that are more like psychological character studies that only really become a horror movie right in the last ten minutes. Saint Maud is that, but to me, it’s the best version of it. Morfydd Clark plays Maud, a nurse who has been placed to care for a cancer-stricken dancer/choreographer (Jennifer Elhe) in a townhouse upon a hill (the film is set in the English coastal town of Scarborough, North Yorkshire). Maud is diligent in her duties but an odd character; we sit with her perspective and observe her prayers to God as interior monologues, which is not odd in itself – rather, it’s the ecstatic fits when Maud is overcome with “God’s love” and her face seems to stretch with possession. It’s a slow burn but sustains an unnerving, compelling tone through Clark’s committed, excellent lead performance as her relationship with her brittle charge, the dying urbane socialite, grows and Maud begins to unravel. Interiors are related in shadowy, baroque palettes (cinematography by Ben Fordesman). Realism is punctured by displays of body horror and haunted visions. The film is definitely helped by a sly sense of humour so that it doesn’t feel like a miserable slog, capped off by a memorable denouement. Available to rent on iTunes and YouTube Movies. Recommended.
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