Spoilers are not allowed to play with scissors.

Horror premises don’t need to be grand scenario or have a huge body count. You can create a horrifying scenario inside a small location, or in the case of this feature centered within a single character. That doesn’t sound very scary unless you allow such a character to become your flawed narrator. This is the way you build tension by causing fear without springing any gore until the time is correct. This one is a slow burn, but you do see the burn before the flames finally shoot off.

(Credit: Escape Productions)

Saint Maud (2019) is written and directed by Rose Glass. Maud (Morfydd Clark) is an introverted and religious woman that works as a nurse for private care. She has been tasked to care for former dancer Amanda Kohl (Jennifer Ehle), a cancer patient. We follow Maud as she keeps to herself and prays according to her beliefs. Slowly we discover her obsession for obtaining the divine favour go into dangerous territory.

There’s one scary realization in knowing how twisted her mind slowly turns to the strange side. There’s another realization in how close it passes under the radar as simply a religiously obsessed individual and doesn’t ring any warning bells. The storytelling follows suit as Maud’s obsession for Amanda’s care go into the spiritual realm. When Amanda allows Maud to get close to her it’s a moment that would have been heartwarming in any other story. But as the audience now knows Maud’s character, they know this could turn out very wrong. Maud then decides to saves Amanda’s soul from the damnation that Maud believes she’s headed to, regardless of whether Amanda agrees or not.

I can’t quite explain how it works, but it does. Maud’s world is unraveling as her obsession seems to tap into her perception of reality. The open-ended storytelling lets both her senses and the visuals in the movie mix. Whether she’s experiencing some otherworldly supernatural connection or it’s all in her mind doesn’t matter. We’re experiencing the movie through her presence and therefore it’s real in the film.

Highly recommended for audiences familiar with psychological horror. The slow burn doesn’t feel slow paced, but incrementally brings the horror in mind before it brings the payoff. The characters are engaging, and the performances are extremely solid. Very much worth a watch.

That will do for now.