Director: Nathan Shepka, Andy Crane
Year: 2025
Country: United Kingdom
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
In the middle of WWII, a group of nuns at a remote monastery already battling their faith are soon confronted by a series of bizarre confrontations with their other members following the arrival of a mysterious infant that they soon learn is the cause of the deadly events unfolding.
Review:
Overall, there’s quite a lot to like with this one. One of the stronger features here is a strong storyline that gives this one a chance to indulge in a solid set of old-school Gothic horror tropes. The isolated monastery that already features several participants fully fighting with their spirituality during the war at the time offers a great way to provide a blanket baseline for the group to struggle with their faith before the more overt supernatural shenanigans start. As we get a fine background on the women staying there and why the one who’s lost their faith continually leaves to the confusion of the more devoted one who continually seeks to try to save her much to the befuddlement of the others there, creating a fine sense of tension alongside some of the other tangents explored here that would be expected in a religious convent including the desire to remain virtuous and pious in such an environment.
That gets explored rather well with the baby’s arrival and what happens following the group’s attempts to care for it. Initially doing the expected and caring for the infant, the more devoted one is immediately quick to judge it as a demonic force which comes as a shock based on how she was portrayed until then. Turning quickly into a solid series of confrontations offering a great setup with the nuns trying to go about their lives and care for the new baby while the one affected by the idea of the baby’s origins leads to a strong series of combative confrontations with the convent trying to keep it safe from her advances. The idea of it demonically influencing everything that happens with the eerie whispers and voices or even just being the beginning stage for the incidents that follow further leading her into the belief that she’s right causes this to be quite fun
By the time the final half arrives and the full extent of everything going on comes into focus, the fact that it’s built these storylines well enough before then allows the action to take more of an influence from these factors makes for a great time. The now-possessed nun going around under the guise of taking instructions from the Satanic infant in their care makes for a solid series of encounters taking out the other nuns in the convent before the final encounters bring about some intriguing twists and allegiance switching that come off incredibly well as the bloody action is all quite fun. The one issue it might have is the slow beginning where the pacing focusing on building up the girls and the different members of the convent might make it start off a bit slower than expected as this goes in-depth enough on their situation the baby appears quite late in the running time but it’s not in the slightest bit as detrimental as it should be.
Overview: ****.5/5
An effective Gothic horror throwback, there’s quite a lot to like here that it manages to overcome its main issue in the slow beginning to come off incredibly well. Give it a shot if you’re a fan of the style presented here, enjoy this kind of indie feature, or are fans of the creative crew while others that don’t appreciate these factors should heed caution.
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