Come to jesus moment with budgeting1/4/2024 ![]() ![]() ![]() A number have passed on to glory and do not live in this physical realm anymore. These people have ignited the flame of a continuous desire for personal development. Unfortunately, “Consecration” has no real interest in truly examining that tension while also proving itself to be frustrating on a pure horror level due to its overly complicated script, reliance on visual cliches, and lackluster ending.There are a number of teachers that have made significant impressions on my life. It wants to be about ancient mysticism and pageantry and corruption but has no concept of the spirituality in which these things are rooted.Ī basic understanding of this spirituality is necessary for an exploration of the tension between devotion and hysteria. This is a film that uses a surface-level understanding of the rituals-and violent history-of the church as a backdrop for its action. There is no moment in which Grace has a “come to Jesus” moment, a conversation with God. Grace herself hasn’t gone through any kind of crisis of faith. Perhaps it's too much to expect any kind of logic in the plotting of a film like this, but is it too much to ask that the structure have some? The voiceover from the beginning repeats itself as the film hurtles towards its preposterous ending, the previous 90 minutes apparently existing to explain to the audience why Grace is now “not so sure” what she believes, yet most of what is revealed has only been shown to the audience, not to Grace herself. There's also little visual distinction between the timelines, blending inexorably together in a way that might have been interesting if the actual throughline weren’t so muddled in execution at the script level. Often the nuns contort their heads to the side for absolutely no reason, as if they’re trying out to be extras in Ken Russell’s “ The Devils.” Several sequences appear to be lifted directly from that far superior film about religious mania and fanaticism.ĭespite gorgeous locations, co-cinematographers Rob Hart and Shaun Mone shoot the verdant hills and ancient buildings without much panache, favoring murky darkness at almost every turn, whether characters are inside a hospital, police station, rectory, or out on a cliff. Figures float behind Grace as she investigates various rooms. "Consecration" doesn’t see them as people, just vessels for portentous speeches and ritual violence.Īlong with Smith and co-writer Laurie Cook’s cliche-ridden script, most of the imagery of the film is equally lazy. They’re eerie, sure, but each nun that Grace interacts with has no unique personality outside of their zealous suffering. ![]() Mother Superior and her coterie of nuns put on a spookshow every chance they get, either through cryptic dialogue or the mutilation of their bodies. Father Romero seems to exist solely to share exposition with the audience by explaining things to Grace. None of the supporting characters are given much depth, either. Is she a grieving sister determined to uncover the truth of her brother’s death? A lost soul in need of a spiritual awakening? A woman who suppressed an abused childhood confronting the abuser? Any one of these motivations would have worked to root the performance in some sort of emotional truth, even when the plotting swerves into the realm of the fantastical. Malone is out of her element here, never able to find a modicum of truth in Grace’s journey. None of these various threads are ever woven together very successfully, leaving the core story muddled, and the final reveal both preposterous and incredibly obvious. Also in the mix is Father Romero ( Danny Huston), who has come from the Vatican to re-consecrate the grounds to cleanse them after the brutal deaths.įrom there, the film goes off the rails with copious flashbacks and possible hallucinations of Grace’s troubled childhood, creepy-looking religious ceremonies happening in the 12th century, and visions of nuns and priests flinging themselves off the cliffs to their deaths. Neither does the kooky Mother Superior ( Janet Suzman), who tells them he was possessed by a demon, and both deaths were in order to overcome that possession. Grace refuses to believe he is capable of either act. Grace learns from DCI Harris ( Thoren Ferguson) that her brother killed another priest and then killed himself. ![]()
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