Consecration

Its a bit difficult for me to rate this because of the Christian elements which I clearly don't get, as a non-Christian and not knowing the history of European christianity.

The movie is a bit slow, the lead character Grace is just wandering the abbey for 50 mins of the movie. She has come here after she is informed about her brother's suicide.

We get to know of her traumatic childhood of a half-crazed father abusing her and rest of the family, in the end stabbing her mother.

Then we have these shots of medieval age where some knights are the visiting this abbey.

The last 30 mins ,where some action happens, left with me lot of questions. Maybe someone who knows Christian theology may have understood what the hell is happening.

The odd part is that the movie doesn't take a stand on who is the bad person here, the church or Grace which makes me give them some points.

This is marketed as a horror movie, but I think it's more of a lean, tightly written mystery with horrific elements. The clues are so densely packed I couldn't leave to get a soda refill, for fear of missing some key point in the story.

Jena Malone is great as always, though her accent is a bit shaky in places. Janet Suzman is a standout as Mother Superior, as is Ian Pirie, who is genuinely frightening as Jena's dad.

Scenes jump back and forth in time and from dreams to reality in a disorienting fashion, but the final resolution ties up all...and I do mean ALL the loose ends in a way I found very satisfying.

Other reviews have commented that too much of the mystery is given away early. I disagree. I could see the general direction it was going but was still surprised at the reveal.

Smarter than the typical jump-scare movie that gets released every week, it will keep your interest and make you think. Just don't expect it to make you jump out of your seat.

Recommended.

I had not heard about this 2023 thriller titled "Consecration" prior to sitting down to watch it. And truth be told, I wasn't really harboring much of any grand expectations, as the vast majority of religiously-themed horror and thriller movies tend to be tedious and questionable at best.

Yet, I opted to sit down and watch "Consecration" on account of never having seen it before.

Writers Christopher Smith and Laurie Cook put together a script that was sort of suitable for a single viewing. I mean, I managed to sit through it, though I was only mildly entertained. The narrative was a bit too mundane and slow paced for my liking. And there wasn't really much excitement throughout the course of the 91 minutes that the movie ran for. You could say, in lack of a better term, that the movie was generic.

I was only familiar with actor Danny Huston on the cast list here, and he did add his usual charm to the movie. It should be noted, however, that the acting performances in "Consecration" were actually fair enough, especially when taking into consideration the limitations of the script.

For a thriller or horror movie then "Consecration" was a walk in the park. There was nothing scary or remotely disturbing here, aside from how linear and predictable the movie was.

Suitable for a single viewing, if you have nothing better on the to-watch-list. But this is not a movie that can sustain more than a single viewing.

My rating of director Christopher Smith's "Consecration" lands on a five out of ten stars.

The movie has been terribly misrepresented and misquoted as a horror while, in reality, it tends to lean more towards the genre of murder/mystery thrillers rather than a gloomy, atmospheric fear flick, contrary to what the trailers may have earlier suggested.

The creators should have been more sincere in their promotional strategies because if you are not honest about your work, the audience has a harder time deciding what to expect and what not to and that could backfire and In this case, I believe it is about to turn sour as well.

The film itself isn't half bad, and neither are the concepts it attempts to explore, but I'm worried that subverting viewers' expectations won't go down well with most of them, it didn't with me that's for certain.

First off, shout outs to Jena Malone who looks fantastic. And now the film. This was a solid watch from start to finish that falls into the suspense religious somewhat embodiment of the supernatural. A story of a journey of a woman who's past, present and future all come together in real time, for the unveiling of who she has been since a child. Cast, story, the religious backdrop, all made a good bit of sense only because of what you find out in the ending part of the film. And I did like how the story did project that mother superior was the person you would have suspected for her nefarious persona only to find out just the opposite. Although the films are not similar, I could not help get the same vibe when I watched the Sixth Sense. Not a horror film but a decent suspense thriller.