New Movie Review: Saint Maud

If you follow new horror releases beyond the big mainstream hits, you've almost certainly heard of Saint Maud.  It's the newest movie from A24, the company behind films like The Witch and Hereditary.  It was supposed to come out last year, but when the pandemic hit, its release became an absolute mess.  At first, it just got pushed back a few months, then it was removed from the release schedule entirely for a while, and it finally had a limited theatrical debut back on January 29 of this year.

And when I say limited, that's probably a bit of an understatement.  I live in one of the biggest movie markets in America, and this movie wasn't playing at a single theater near me.  The closest I saw on Fandango was one theater about an hour away, so I doubt many people got to see it on the big screen.  Instead, the vast majority of us had to wait until February 12, when it came out on VOD exclusively through the premium channel Epix.  It's a really obnoxious release strategy, but if you get a free trial subscription to Epix and then cancel it before they start charging you, you can actually watch this movie for free.  So it's not all bad.

But enough about the saga of Saint Maud's release.  Let's get to the actual movie.  It's a psychological horror film about a nurse named Maud who recently converted to Catholicism, and she's assigned to care for a dying cancer patient at the person's house.  Her newfound faith compels her to try to save this patient's soul, and she's willing to do whatever it takes to achieve that goal.

Just like every other A24 horror movie, Saint Maud is very atmospheric and very slow.  You need to be a very patient viewer to enjoy this one, so if you're looking for scares every few minutes, this is not the film for you.  In fact, for most of its runtime, it plays more like a drama than a horror movie, so this movie is definitely not for everyone.

However, if you're the kind of horror fan who would enjoy something like this, then you'll be richly rewarded.  For one, all of the technical aspects of the film are spot on, from the acting to the cinematography to the directing.  I especially enjoyed Morfyyd Clark's performance as Maud.  When the movie begins, she plays the role with a perfect combination of strong confidence and fearful timidity, so you totally buy her as a recent convert who completely believes in her faith but who is still very much haunted by the fact that it makes her different from everyone around her.  Then, as Maud's mental state deteriorates throughout the film, Clark also portrays every step along that path just as skillfully.

Secondly, the story is quite interesting too.  I don't want to give away any of the movie's secrets, so I'm going to be vague here.  There's more to this film than just the official plot synopsis (which I summarized above), and once it begins to deviate from that, it becomes really intriguing.  Maud isn't just a psycho religious fanatic who does bad things in the name of her religion.  She struggles with her faith, and seeing that struggle and the way it ties in with her overall mental and emotional condition is really fascinating.

In a similar vein, I also really like the unique way this movie portrays Maud's Catholicism. A lot of horror movies feature psycho religious fanatics, and they give the impression that their villains are supposed to accurately represent their religions (even if that's not actually their intention).  Take the 1976 classic Carrie, for example.  Any Christian worth their salt will tell you that Carrie's mother doesn't represent authentic Christianity, but it sometimes feels like the movie itself doesn't understand that.  However, Saint Maud is different.  The way I see it, Maud's psycho fanaticism is supposed to be a deviation from authentic Catholicism.  I think the whole point of it is that Maud practices some sort of bastardization of the Catholic faith rather than the real thing, and that makes for a much more interesting story than just a straightforward "religion is bad" kind of morality tale.

Thirdly and finally, we have the horror.  This movie doesn't have any real scares until the very end, but it has some creepy stuff to hold you over as you wait for the "good stuff."  In particular, Maud's extreme religious experiences and practices are quite unsettling, and the best (or worst, depending on your point of view) of them stick with you well after the credits roll.  Then, when the big finale comes and you finally get some legit scares, they hit hard.  I obviously don't want to spoil anything, so I'll just say that the last few scenes of this movie are well worth the wait.

So if you're looking for something new to watch this month, then look no further.  This is the best movie of the year so far.  Granted, that's not saying much in February, but I think it still counts for something.  I really liked this movie, and if you're the kind of horror fan who would enjoy an extremely slow, character-driven story with a creepy undertone and a hard-hitting ending, then you need to watch Saint Maud right now.