Strangers in the night
The Righteous is a slow-burn horror that makes everything old seem new again
THE RIGHTEOUS ★★★★ out of 5
Cast: Mark O'brien,
Henry Czerny, Mimi Kuzyk
Director: Mark O'brien
Duration: 1 h 37 m
Available: In theatres
You've seen all these filmmaking puzzle pieces before. A troubled priest with a dark secret. The tragic death of a child. A rough and mysterious stranger who shows up in the dead of night. Moody, black-and-white cinematography.
But Newfoundland actor and first-time feature filmmaker Mark O'brien puts them all together in new and fascinating and frightening ways in The Righteous, a slow-burning horror that has a lot to say about guilt and our desire for penance, absolution and, possibly, peace.
Henry Czerny stars as Frederic Mason, a former priest now married to Ethel (Mimi Kuzyk). Their daughter has just been killed in a road accident, and they receive an awkward visit from the girl's birth mother (Kate Corbett), from whom they adopted her as a baby.
Their grief is interrupted a second time by the arrival of Aaron, played by O'brien. Seemingly dropped from the sky with a busted leg and a hillbilly accent, Aaron begs for help.
Frederic reluctantly brings the young man inside, and in the morning discovers that his wife has taken a shine to him.
With very little discussion, it's agreed the stray can stay until he's well enough to move on.
Aaron has an enigmatic past; it's even possible that's not his real name.
He tells Frederic a terrifying story about his own adoptive father, then confesses that he made it all up — oh, except for the worst bits. Frederic isn't certain what to believe, but Aaron is clearly a troubled soul. That's confirmed when he makes a bizarre request that the ex-priest says he won't even consider. But Aaron is insistent, possibly supernaturally so. Either that or Frederic's conscience is playing tricks on his perceptions.
O'brien has had an unusual career trajectory.
In addition to television work — most notably in The Republic of Doyle — he's had small roles in big films (Arrival and Bad Times at the El Royale, to name but two), and won several directing prizes for his short films.
With his writing-directing-acting credits in The Righteous, he's stepping onto a larger stage with ease and assurance.
His collaborators deserve high praise as well, in particular Czerny, whose expressive features seem to have been expressly crafted to be seen in black-and-white.
And the fiery dialogue crackles. When Frederic visits his friend and religious mentor to discuss his troubled thoughts, the older priest counsels him: “Be careful what you wish for. But be certain what you pray for.”