Saint Clare

"Saint Clare" is a movie that I had not heard about prior to stumbling upon it here in 2025. And seeing that it was a horror movie of sorts, of course I opted to watch it.

Writers Mitzi Peirone and Guinevere Turner put together a script and narrative that started out nicely enough, but sort of stagnated and grew a bit boring and dull about halfway through. Granted, I haven't read the novel from writer Don Roff, so I don't know how true screen writers Mitzi Peirone and Guinevere Turner were to the source material.

The acting performances in the movie were good, and it was nice to see Rebecca De Mornay on the screen again. Aside from Rebecca De Mornay, the only familiar faces on the screen, for me at least, were Frank Whaley and Ryan Phillippe.

Visually, the movie was okay, but nothing outstanding.

Watchable, for sure, but I have to say that "Saint Clare" fell short of properly entertaining me from start to end.

"Saint Clare" is more of a thriller than it is a horror movie.

My rating of director Mitzi Peirone's 2024 movie "Saint Clare" lands on a four out of ten stars.

This is an experience. I highly recommend spending the time to enter this universe that will give you first row seat to what I would call a finely tuned symphony of script, cast, acting, light, sound coming together and working! To me, it was just a slice of (dark) magic unfolding! It brings questions, maybe even important ones to mind and brought me wonder around certain "set-in-stone" paradigms. Definitely one to watch and then discuss (freak out) over drinks. What an experience this was !! I absolutely love Thorne's performance! There's a transformation happening there and I sense much more magic is to come from her for sure! I'll be watching...

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.

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.

Mitzi Peirone's Saint Clare is the type of moody, atmospheric, not always coherent yet always fascinating fright flick we might have seen crop up in the 90's, an in the vein of Dean Koontz type ethereal-pulp good time at the horror movies that, sadly yet a bit understandably, has been getting some bad reviews. Bella Thorne is Clare, a young woman born with a sort of divine clairvoyance that allows her to keenly identify predators, serial killers and evil folks of the same rotten pedigree, and viciously dispatch them with some sort of spiritual impunity ordained just on her. She's like an angelic vigilante and has focused her energy on the small town she lives in where apparent human trafficking murderers have been operating freely for decades with little investigation by the local cops. The film tries this "darkly whimsical" energy that doesn't always flow, but is an interesting aesthetic choice and Thorne, who has seemed in the past incapable of a performance that registers beyond a placid stare and not able to annunciate her lines any other way than a stoned valley girl, is actually pretty engaging and seems to have taken some actual acting classes, I quite enjoyed her character work here. She's joined by some yesteryear familiar faces including a weirdly intense Rebecca DeMornay as her anxious stepmother, Ryan Phillippe as a useless police detective and scene stealing Frank Whaley as the ghost of a distraught mailman she once tried to help and accidentally killed, who now benignly haunts her offering kindly advice and moral support. It's in these narratively kitschy, lovably kooky moments that the film truly shines and displays something memorable. This is after all a pretty straightforward supernatural detective story given the otherworldly arthouse treatment by filmmaker Peirone and while some elements skirt the silly and terminally unfocused, Thorne's winning performance, her lovely oddball chemistry with Whaley and a positively gorgeous, super eerie musical score by Zola Jesus/Phillip Klein make this well worth a look.