THE REVEREND’S REVIEW
FT’s resident man of the cloth REVEREND PETER LAWS dons his dog collar and faces the flicks that Church forgot! (www.peterlaws.co.uk)
The Banishing
Dir Christopher Smith, UK 2021 On digital platforms from 26 March
Reunion
Dir Jake Mahaffy, New Zealand, 2020 On digital platforms from 22 March
Sacrifice
Dir Andy Collier, Tor Mian, UK 2020 On digital platforms from 15 March
The long demolished Borley Rectory continues to haunt the screen. I know of at least three recent films based on the infamous house (Ashley Thorpe’s 2017 docu-drama Borley Rectory being my pick). The Banishing takes place in ‘Morley’ Rectory (geddit?) and is inspired by the real-life Reverend Smith and his wife, who moved into Borley only to come across the skull of a young woman. This movie version takes the scenario and runs with it, throwing in mirror universes, sexual repression and occult Nazis for good measure. It’s a handsome production, with an earnest cast. Jessica Brown Findlay ( Downtown Abbey)
plays the vicar’s wife, while FT
readers may especially enjoy Sam Harris’s portrayal of ghost hunter Harry Price, who speaks in the clipped, sinister whisper of a villain but has a kind and misunderstood heart – and a killer tight perm. Director Christopher Smith has a slate of left-field gems to his credit and offers some striking imagery here. Creepy highlights include a trio of hooded monks gathered around a child’s bed and multiple Findlays floating against a wall (inspired, I reckon, by a spooky picture from a 1970s German stage performance of Bluebeard that has done the rounds on the Internet). By journey’s end, though, this is a surprisingly conventional ghost movie, which isn’t always a bad thing, just not quite what I thought Smith might do. The title is no surprise, however. Since The Conjuring hit so big, it seems that every haunted house film has to end in an “ing”.
By comparison, Reunion is a more surreal and complex haunted house tale in which Ella, a teacher of occult history, reunites with her estranged (not to mention strange) mother in their oppressive childhood home. Ella is heavily pregnant, which becomes a catalyst for extreme tension between the two. The two leads create a chilling sense of palpable mental chaos always bubbling under the service. Yet they keep hiding it with polite talk and misdirected anger: “Don’t tell me to calm down! You’re boiling the cauliflower!” While the supernatural features in Reunion, the real ghosts here are the psychological ripples from a dysfunctional, damaged family. Be warned: it’s a weird, relentlessly ominous film, which might explain why some audiences have struggled to connect with it. For me, though, it was a truly haunting, sometimes distressing experience – the type I almost want to forget, but can’t; which, for a horror film, is a recommendation.
Less surreal but more fun is Sacrifice, in which a New York couple travel to a quirky small town in Norway to claim an inheritance... only to find the locals cheerfully donning white robes to worship a mysterious Sea God. Sure, it’s schlocky at times, but you can tell the film is aiming for more. At its heart is folk-horror mythology rather than huge creature effects and jump scares. The Scandi location is strange and beguiling, as is horror icon Barbara Crampton, who anchors the action with a performance that is halfplayful, half-sinister – a mood that the film itself seems to be aiming for. If Midsommarlite with a Lovecraftian twist sounds like your thing, give it a go.
Mirror universes, sexual repression and occult Nazis for good measure