Grace learns from DCI Harris (Thoren Ferguson) that her brother killed another priest and then killed himself. Grace refuses to believe he is capable of either act. Neither does the kooky Mother Superior (Janet Suzman), who tells them he was possessed by a demon, and both deaths were in order to overcome that possession. Also in the mix is Father Romero (Danny Huston), who has come from the Vatican to re-consecrate the grounds to cleanse them after the brutal deaths.
From there, the film goes off the rails with copious flashbacks and possible hallucinations of Grace’s troubled childhood, creepy-looking religious ceremonies happening in the 12th century, and visions of nuns and priests flinging themselves off the cliffs to their deaths. None of these various threads are ever woven together very successfully, leaving the core story muddled, and the final reveal both preposterous and incredibly obvious.
Malone is out of her element here, never able to find a modicum of truth in Grace’s journey. Is she a grieving sister determined to uncover the truth of her brother’s death? A lost soul in need of a spiritual awakening? A woman who suppressed an abused childhood confronting the abuser? Any one of these motivations would have worked to root the performance in some sort of emotional truth, even when the plotting swerves into the realm of the fantastical.
None of the supporting characters are given much depth, either. Father Romero seems to exist solely to share exposition with the audience by explaining things to Grace. Mother Superior and her coterie of nuns put on a spookshow every chance they get, either through cryptic dialogue or the mutilation of their bodies. They’re eerie, sure, but each nun that Grace interacts with has no unique personality outside of their zealous suffering. “Consecration” doesn’t see them as people, just vessels for portentous speeches and ritual violence.
Along with Smith and co-writer Laurie Cook’s cliche-ridden script, most of the imagery of the film is equally lazy. Figures float behind Grace as she investigates various rooms. Often the nuns contort their heads to the side for absolutely no reason, as if they’re trying out to be extras in Ken Russell’s “The Devils.” Several sequences appear to be lifted directly from that far superior film about religious mania and fanaticism.
Despite gorgeous locations, co-cinematographers Rob Hart and Shaun Mone shoot the verdant hills and ancient buildings without much panache, favoring murky darkness at almost every turn, whether characters are inside a hospital, police station, rectory, or out on a cliff. There’s also little visual distinction between the timelines, blending inexorably together in a way that might have been interesting if the actual throughline weren’t so muddled in execution at the script level.