SAINT MAUD
Thoughts And Prayers045
“The small-scale grossness of what Maud does, I find really
horrible... I’ve seen it a few times now and I still don’t like it”
MORFYDD CLARKMaud (left) believes she
hears the voice of God...Holy horror
Saint Maud isn’t the only
movie to take its cues from
the Good Book. Here’s some
other shock horrors that
showcase the dark side
of religion...
ROSEMARY’S
BABY 1968
Roman Polanski’s
paranoia-fuelled
Rosemary’s
Baby brought the dark side
of Catholicism to mainstream
audiences with its story of a
pregnant woman convinced an
evil cult have plans for her unborn
baby. In 2014, the film was
inducted into the National Film
Registry and director Rose Glass
has cited it as a strong influence
on Saint Maud.THE EXORCIST
1973
William Friedkin
set the bar high
when he helmed
The Exorcist in the early Seventies,
a film that’s still considered by
many to be the defining – and
most terrifying – religious horror
movie of all time. Banned on
release, its extensive controversies
only added to its mystique. Four
sequels followed – but none came
close to the unnerving terror of
the original.STIGMATA 1999
Director Rupert
Wainwright’s
Church-shaped
terror follows an
atheist whose life is turned upside
down when she starts displaying
the painful wounds of the
Stigmata of Christ after inheriting
some mysterious rosary beads.
The film doubled its budget at the
box office but that didn’t stop it
from earning a Razzie nod for
Gabriel Byrne’s performance as a
puzzled priest.MARTYRS 2008
Pascal Langier’s
extreme religious
horror paints the
bleak picture
of two tortured sisters whose
situation goes from bad to worse
after falling victim to a devilish
society bent on discovering the
mysteries of the afterlife. This
grizzly – and often unsettling –
French frightener was remade for
American audiences in 2015.normal they are, the more horrible it is. The small-
scale grossness of what Maud does, I find really
horrible. I’ve seen it a few times now and I still don’t
like it.”
With Maud’s self-destruction comes a rather
distinct feeling that her fate is the result of a thousand
tiny failures and one that could have easily been
avoided had someone cared, noticed or acted just
a little bit sooner. However, perhaps scariest of all is
the fact that its real terror lays beyond the confines
of the cinema screen, hiding in plain sight in the
overlooked hurt we sometimes cause others on a
day-to-day basis.
“It was a slow crushing with all these micro-
aggressions just slowly chipping away at her,”
suggests Clark of Maud’s fragile state of mind.
“Obviously we see that some event has happened in
her past but have huge things happened or is it just
the daily grind of being alive in a world that isn’t kind?
I feel that as human beings we can make a difference
by just being nicer to people in terms of the little
damage we do accidentally.”
Still, while mental illness is an undercurrent of
Saint Maud, Clark was reluctant to dish out labels: “I
didn’t want to diagnose her because I just don’t know
enough. I find the fragility of the human condition
really interesting and I’ve always loved watching films
where someone slowly disintegrates.”
Despite all of S aint M au d’s shocks, it’s this sobering
sentiment that Glass is keen to share with viewers: “If
the film’s about anything, it’s about that,” she says,
discussing the unlikely positive message hidden withinMaud’s tragic story. “It’s a call for compassion and the
importance of trying to put yourself in other people’s
shoes. It’s sometimes easy – but also dangerous and
lazy – to just dismiss people who behave in a certain
way. Maud is led to an extreme, awful place but
things like that very rarely happen overnight. There’s
usually a long trajectory and many points where if
somebody had intervened, been more compassionate
or reached out then maybe things could have turned
out very differently.
“I hope that in spite of the extreme, bonkers places
that Maud ends up going, people connect with
the character,” adds Glass. “I’d like to think we’re
motivated by very similar, universal things – we just go
about it in a different way.”
Clark has a similar view: “What’s so awful about
Maud is that she’s a ticking time bomb that everyone’s
just passing. Ultimately, I think that despite the film
being quite a brutal horror it’s incredibly empathetic
and caring to its protagonist – and that’s why I think
Rose is so wonderful. She’s utterly non-judgmental
and has a huge amount of empathy for everybody,”
she says. “I really hope that it makes people feel that
a little bit of care goes a long way because that’s
what it did for me. I never wanted to be someone
who meets someone like Maud and makes her day a
little bit worse, in the same way that I’ve also felt a bit
Maud-y and somebody has made my day a bit worse.
You can’t expect individuals to save people, it needs to
be everybody.”Saint Maud is released in cinemas on 1 May.SAINT MAUD
Thoughts And Prayers045
“The small-scale grossness of what Maud does, I find really
horrible... I’ve seen it a few times now and I still don’t like it”
MORFYDD CLARKMaud (left) believes she
hears the voice of God...Holy horror
Saint Maud isn’t the only
movie to take its cues from
the Good Book. Here’s some
other shock horrors that
showcase the dark side
of religion...
ROSEMARY’S
BABY 1968
Roman Polanski’s
paranoia-fuelled
Rosemary’s
Baby brought the dark side
of Catholicism to mainstream
audiences with its story of a
pregnant woman convinced an
evil cult have plans for her unborn
baby. In 2014, the film was
inducted into the National Film
Registry and director Rose Glass
has cited it as a strong influence
on Saint Maud.THE EXORCIST
1973
William Friedkin
set the bar high
when he helmed
The Exorcist in the early Seventies,
a film that’s still considered by
many to be the defining – and
most terrifying – religious horror
movie of all time. Banned on
release, its extensive controversies
only added to its mystique. Four
sequels followed – but none came
close to the unnerving terror of
the original.STIGMATA 1999
Director Rupert
Wainwright’s
Church-shaped
terror follows an
atheist whose life is turned upside
down when she starts displaying
the painful wounds of the
Stigmata of Christ after inheriting
some mysterious rosary beads.
The film doubled its budget at the
box office but that didn’t stop it
from earning a Razzie nod for
Gabriel Byrne’s performance as a
puzzled priest.MARTYRS 2008
Pascal Langier’s
extreme religious
horror paints the
bleak picture
of two tortured sisters whose
situation goes from bad to worse
after falling victim to a devilish
society bent on discovering the
mysteries of the afterlife. This
grizzly – and often unsettling –
French frightener was remade for
American audiences in 2015.normal they are, the more horrible it is. The small-
scale grossness of what Maud does, I find really
horrible. I’ve seen it a few times now and I still don’t
like it.”
With Maud’s self-destruction comes a rather
distinct feeling that her fate is the result of a thousand
tiny failures and one that could have easily been
avoided had someone cared, noticed or acted just
a little bit sooner. However, perhaps scariest of all is
the fact that its real terror lays beyond the confines
of the cinema screen, hiding in plain sight in the
overlooked hurt we sometimes cause others on a
day-to-day basis.
“It was a slow crushing with all these micro-
aggressions just slowly chipping away at her,”
suggests Clark of Maud’s fragile state of mind.
“Obviously we see that some event has happened in
her past but have huge things happened or is it just
the daily grind of being alive in a world that isn’t kind?
I feel that as human beings we can make a difference
by just being nicer to people in terms of the little
damage we do accidentally.”
Still, while mental illness is an undercurrent of
Saint Maud, Clark was reluctant to dish out labels: “I
didn’t want to diagnose her because I just don’t know
enough. I find the fragility of the human condition
really interesting and I’ve always loved watching films
where someone slowly disintegrates.”
Despite all of S aint M au d’s shocks, it’s this sobering
sentiment that Glass is keen to share with viewers: “If
the film’s about anything, it’s about that,” she says,
discussing the unlikely positive message hidden withinMaud’s tragic story. “It’s a call for compassion and the
importance of trying to put yourself in other people’s
shoes. It’s sometimes easy – but also dangerous and
lazy – to just dismiss people who behave in a certain
way. Maud is led to an extreme, awful place but
things like that very rarely happen overnight. There’s
usually a long trajectory and many points where if
somebody had intervened, been more compassionate
or reached out then maybe things could have turned
out very differently.
“I hope that in spite of the extreme, bonkers places
that Maud ends up going, people connect with
the character,” adds Glass. “I’d like to think we’re
motivated by very similar, universal things – we just go
about it in a different way.”
Clark has a similar view: “What’s so awful about
Maud is that she’s a ticking time bomb that everyone’s
just passing. Ultimately, I think that despite the film
being quite a brutal horror it’s incredibly empathetic
and caring to its protagonist – and that’s why I think
Rose is so wonderful. She’s utterly non-judgmental
and has a huge amount of empathy for everybody,”
she says. “I really hope that it makes people feel that
a little bit of care goes a long way because that’s
what it did for me. I never wanted to be someone
who meets someone like Maud and makes her day a
little bit worse, in the same way that I’ve also felt a bit
Maud-y and somebody has made my day a bit worse.
You can’t expect individuals to save people, it needs to
be everybody.”Saint Maud is released in cinemas on 1 May.