In certain cinephile circles, the cult movie publisher A24 has become pretty much a byword for quality – it's published some of the most iconic indie films of recent years, and seems to be a real hit factory. So, when one of A24's movies hits Amazon Prime Video, it really helps one of the best streaming services become even better.
Part of what makes A24 so impressive is that it doesn't just stick to wordy dramas or intense tragic movies, and is instead very happy to dip its toes into genre movies. That includes horror, and one of its best movies of that sort is Saint Maud, a tiny British movie that punches way above its weight in terms of frights. It just arrived on Prime Video in the US, as a film that isn't always easy to find streaming.
Saint Maud is a largely realistic look at what religious fervour can look like, in a setting that wouldn't necessarily seem obvious. Morfydd Clark plays Maud, a young woman who's only recently found her spiritual side, as she cares for an unwell older person. Her beliefs quickly come into focus, as Maud suffers from what could be delusions or could be malign influences.
Her version is that she's being communicated with by God, but this is a horror movie, so it doesn't take much to figure out that there's more going on. Set in an ageing and decrepit British seaside town, it's also got a really impressive sense of place, and is just as much of a trippy journey to the UK as something like Midsommar was for Sweden (another A24 film, by the way).
Anchoring the whole thing is a brilliantly committed performance from Clark, who's now much better-known thanks to her starring role as Galadriel in Prime Video's own blockbuster series The Rings of Power. That one's a far cry from Saint Maud, which requires her to go to far darker places, sadly.
Still, it underlines just how many terrific actors get their start (or at least their breakthrough) in horror movies, making Saint Maud a must-watch if you want to understand her career trajectory. Of course, I highly recommend it anyway, for a slow-burn tension-filled frightfest.
