Saint Clare

This movie can't get out of it's own way. The story had some potential, but had so many glaring plot holes, it made very little sense.

Throw in some really wooden, uninspired performances, choppy dialogue, and lack of any relevant back story, and this film is a complete disaster.

On the bright side, Frank Whaley was solid. He was the only I can say that about.

Yes there is the music group, but I am not talking about them (or am I?), so no pun intended as always. Bella Thorne took a liking to the subject matter of the movie - they even showed a short movie she did (where she plans to do a feature length) ... and it had also a theme of ... well people being abused to say the least.

This has an amazing Frank Whaley in it ... I actually wish there was more of him in here! He is so good in this - like a good sidekick if you want to call him that ... while he actually shouldn't be on her side ... one might think. That said, if this was just "reality" he shouldn't be there at all ... but this is a heightened this is meant to be a bit more than the truth.

Unfortunately what is shown here does happen in reality .. so having a vigilante going after the bad people ... not a bad thing. Even if it goes a bit ... or more than just a bit out there ... with some characters acting completely irrational ... it still is a decent watch to say the least ... suspense and all that.

For this genre Saint Clare is a watchable movie but it's not a movie you will remember in the future, not even a day later in my case. For that it's just not good enough in many aspects. The twists and turns that should make this movie better were weak, maybe not predictable but weak nonetheless. The acting from some actors of the cast could definitely be better. All in all it's worth a watch if you don't set the bar too high.

I'd had this film on my watch list for quite a while as the premise sounded intriguing and from what I know about Bella Thorne, she's keen on artistic risks. While it was intriguing, it certainly wasn't worth the wait.

There are plenty of interesting ideas on offer, but several are under utilised or forgotten about. There's artistic flare at times, reminiscent of other recent horror such as Censor and, to a lesser extent, Saint Maud, but frankly the film is put together so sloppily that these are few and far between. For example, about ten minutes or so into the film, we're introduced to Frank Whaley's character, and it seems like we're suddenly getting a dynamic akin to Griffin Dunne in An American Werewolf in London, but the film soon gets bored of that.

Bella Thorne was fine as the titular Clare, and Whaley isn't bad either, but the rest of the cast felt either limp, hammy or in Ryan Phillipe's case, wooden. These performances, coupled with predictable twists and haphazard editing and directing create something held together with tape rather than superglue and it comes close to falling apart completely.

I really wanted to like this film after waiting for so long, and while I didn't hate it, it falls into the category of forgettable films like The Night House.

The idea behind this is good and different from these kinds of revenge horror movies. Usually when the lead is a woman who fights "the bag guys" she's been assaulted, attacked, something happens to her. But here, she's not a victim. She's not going after her attackers. She's like Dexter and with her own code.

The acting was great, Bella Thorne was amazing.

Ryan Phillippe however... Why? He's not a good actor and it kind of ruined what we're supposed to be tense moments in the movie.

Regarding the one of 2 plot twists, if you can call it that, it was so predictable, especially that the voice on the phone was distinctive, so you knew what was going to happen next.

The movie had good pacing until the "plot twists" those felt rushed, like not much effort had been put in.

It's an OK movie.

Bella gives a solid performance.