Nerdly » ‘Consecration’ VOD Review

16th Jun2025

‘Consecration’ VOD Review

by Phil Wheat

Stars: Jena Malone, Danny Huston, Janet Suzman, Ian Pirie, Eilidh Fisher, Steffan Cennydd, Thoren Ferguson, Alexandra Lewis | Written by Christopher Smith, Laurie Cook | Directed by Chris Smith

How would the modern world respond if a fallen angel walked among us? Would science attempt to rationalise it, while religion clung tighter to dogma or would both implode under the weight of something truly unexplainable? These are the philosophical and theological underpinnings that Chris Smith’s Consecration grapples with, sometimes subtly, sometimes overtly, in what is arguably his most thematically ambitious film since Black Death.

Jena Malone stars as Grace, a determined and emotionally guarded ophthalmologist who is pulled into the cloistered world of Mount Saviour convent in the Scottish Highlands after the suspicious death of her brother, a Catholic priest. Her refusal to accept the official ruling of suicide propels her into a quietly escalating mystery, one cloaked in whispers of miracles, sin, and long-buried secrets. As she peels back layers of ecclesiastical silence, she uncovers a chilling tapestry of murder, ritual, and spiritual manipulation – all while confronting harrowing flashbacks of a forgotten childhood that may hold the key to everything.

What Consecration does well, excellently in fact, is conjure atmosphere. Smith uses the isolation of the windswept Scottish moors and the stark, cold stone of the convent to create a mood that feels both timeless and oppressive. It’s a place out of step with the modern world, where ancient beliefs still hold sway, and where the weight of silence can be as suffocating as scripture. There’s a clear echo of The Wicker Man in its setup – a secular outsider stepping into a religious microcosm – but Smith avoids outright homage. Instead, he leans into the tension between empirical knowledge and mystical truth, letting the film simmer with dread rather than explode with it.

Jena Malone is magnetic here. Her performance is sharp, vulnerable, and simmering with internal conflict, perfect for a protagonist who embodies the film’s central tug-of-war between rationality and faith. Danny Huston, as the enigmatic Father Romero, brings a mix of warmth and menace, always walking the line between shepherd and inquisitor. Their scenes together are riveting, each trying to decode the other while never fully revealing their own hand.

The film falters slightly in pacing during the midsection, where the tension stalls and some of the more esoteric revelations feel underdeveloped. And while it avoids nunsploitation excess, one can’t help but feel that a little more gothic madness or even some stylistic extremity might have elevated the film from interesting to unforgettable.

Still, Consecration earns its place as a thoughtful, often unsettling religious horror, more interested in raising questions than delivering easy scares. Smith hasn’t yet matched the existential mind-bending brilliance of Triangle, but this is a step in the right direction – a mature, moody meditation on belief, trauma, and the frightening possibility that angels may not always be benevolent.