A horror film directed by Christopher Smith, but fails to live up to its promising opening sequence. The film revolves around Grace (played by Jena Malone) who travels to the Mount Saviour Convent in Scotland after learning of her priest brother's death. The rest of the film lacks invigoration and simply recycles spooky Catholic horror themes without adding any originality to the subgenre.

The supporting characters are not given much depth and the various plot threads are not woven together effectively, leaving the story muddled. The imagery and cinematography of the film is also lazy and uninspired. The film's preposterous ending does not provide any resolution to Grace's journey or explore the tension between devotion and hysteria in the Church. Overall, "Consecration" fails to deliver on both a horror and spiritual level.

Just saw this movie. I'm an atheist but still like religious horror films.

We see a movie every week and sometimes we're left with nothing but clunkers. I know this probably wasn't top notch, because how many possession or good versus evil, demon films have there been?

The previews looked good and why the hell not? We were the only ones in the theater on a Friday afternoon.

Although hubby dozed a time or two, he was interested. He uses captioning and the machines weren't available and I had to interpret the scenes, but still he hung in there.

I really liked this film, if only for the fact that it was different. There's a twist that at one point you surmized is coming, but still I found myself surprised.

I had no problem following the story and I say that because some critics felt it was muddled and had two narratives going. Everything becomes clear in the end.

The cinematography and setting feels authentic and looks good. There is blood and gore but not and Indy abundance, but this is not for the comic book, shoot them up crowd, car crashes and explosion crowd. It's s but of a slow burn.

Bottomline, it held my attention and i liked it.

Greetings again from the darkness. Horror films and religion are a match made in heaven ... so to speak. The linking of demonic possession and religious artifacts pre-dates cinema, and yet has long been a key element on the big screen. The effect of the cross on Dracula is one example, and of course, the priest visiting young Regan in THE EXORCIST is one for the ages. So many other examples exist that entire books have been written on the topic. It's because of this history that we quickly accept the setting and groundwork of this latest from writer-director Christopher Smith (TRIANGLE, 2009) and co-writer Laurie Cook.

Optometrist Grace (Jena Malone) lives alone with her cat when she is notified that her brother (Steffan Cennydd), a priest, is dead. Supposedly he killed a senior priest before committing suicide. Grace is immediately suspicious of the story and decides to conduct her own investigation. She travels to the convent, located on the edge of an oceanside cliff in a remote area of Scotland, where she discusses the case with Detective Harris (Thoren Ferguson). They both have serious doubts that Mother Superior's (Janet Suzman) chronicle of events is accurate.

Father Romero (Danny Huston) arrives on assignment from the Vatican in order to re-consecrate the convent, and to do so, he must ensure that the truth in the case is disclosed. Adding an element is Grace's admission to being "indifferent" towards God, which of course, makes her a target of the nuns, including a creepy "peek-a-boo" nun played by Elidih Fisher.

The initial set up with Grace and her arrival are extremely well done, and Ms. Malone proves yet again why she has long been a favorite. The good vs evil stage is set, and then filmmaker Smith begins the twists and misdirection. Flashbacks to Grace's childhood are a bit heavy-handed and used to spell out a bit too much, and some of these are simply too obvious and generate a few too many eye-rolls. Mr. Huston is always solid in whatever supporting role he plays, but fans of Jena Malone will likely be somewhat disappointed in a movie that doesn't take full advantage of her presence. Regardless of that, the Scotland countryside is shown in its full glory and that's quite a sight. Just don't expect as much from a horror movie that's just trying too hard.

In theaters beginning February 10, 2023.