Religion has a complicated place in the realm of horror, as it is often incorporated into narratives to help drive a plot forward. In most cases, audiences see figures representing a religion attempting to be the salvation of victims, such as in The Exorcist, The Possession, or The Sentinal. Other films, such as The Wicker Man or The Sacrament, introduce audiences to organizations that feel more like cults than traditional organized religions, depicting the dangers of outlying beliefs. Saint Maud is an entirely horrifying experience whose merits rest solely on its incorporation of religion, yet it feels entirely original in its depictions of not just the actual practices and mythology of any established belief system, but rather the consequences faced by someone so desperate and lonely that their devotion to a higher power takes them on a harrowing and unsettling descent into darkness.
