Consecration (2023) Review

PLOT: After the alleged suicide of her priest brother, Grace travels to the remote Scottish convent where he fell to his death. Distrusting the Church’s account, she uncovers murder, sacrilege, and a disturbing truth about herself.

REVIEW: Hailing from Scotland, Consecration provides a look at grief and identity. Jena Malone stars as Grace, a woman who’s struggling through life, even more so now that her brother has supposedly killed himself. She journeys to Scotland in order to take care of his affairs. But there’s clearly more to his death than it appears and sends Grace on a journey of discovery. What she finds may be surprising to her, but if you’ve seen any sort of horror movie, will be old hat to you. Because unfortunately, while Consecration looks good, there’s not much more beneath the surface.

I really love Jena Malone and could watch her in just about anything. She has impressed in small roles like Swallowed and more over-the-top roles like in the Hunger Games films. But her accent here was so distracting that I was transfixed whenever she was on the screen. And not in a good way. She over pronounces every single syllable and it was hard to focus on anything else. That is, until you notice her very poorly done wig. In darker scenes, it works a little better, but it looks like a wet mop the rest of the time. I feel like we never get truly bad wigs these days so this almost felt like a treat. This is all really too bad as Malone herself–accent aside–gives a great performance.

One reason the trailer (which you can watch above) stood out to me is Danny Huston. Whether it’s The Proposition or even Succession, he’s always such a presence. So I found myself very disappointed with his lack of screen time or overall importance to the story. He seems to just come and go, making it very frustrating. For the most part, the film remains rather grounded. While there are obviously some rather paranormal aspects, you’re never slapped over the face with it. Though there’s some really shoddy CGI involving some falling nuns that looks like a workprint. Given how important it is to the story, I understand why it wasn’t cut but it stands out as very shoddy amongst otherwise decent work.

Ever since 2006’s Severance, writer/director Christopher Smith has had a very interesting career. With this latest venture, he’s even harder to nail down as this features none of the dark humor I’d expected. Instead, we have a decidedly darker story that feels more like a catholic dealing with their religion. But maybe that’s just because I’m not religious and everything seems to fall under a certain umbrella in these films. The church is treated as a downright cult here, so there’s bound to be some people offended but what’s the point of making a horror movie if you don’t offend someone?

Consecration is a movie with two very distinct sides. The timeline in present day is often softly lit and bereft of the true weight to any actions. The flashbacks to the past are where the actual tension lies, with the father doing some truly terrible things to his children and his wife. It’s where the movie picked up significantly. But it was over all too quick, and we were quickly taken back into the much more boring present day. To make matters worse, they even alter some stuff in those flashbacks to somehow make them less impactful, affecting the entire movie. I find religious horror movies to often be dread-inducing. Unfortunately, though, Consecration will leave you scratching your head more than clutching your bible.

Consecration is IN THEATERS FEBRUARY 10TH, 2023.

Jena Malone

BELOW AVERAGE

5