'Saint Maud': Release date, plot, cast, trailer and all you need to know about A24 horror film coming to Epix
A religious hospice nurse becomes dangerously obsessed with saving the soul of a patient in her care. Sounds like the setting for a good spooky feature, doesn’t it? If you like where this is headed, here’s all you need to know about ‘Saint Maud’.
Release date
‘Saint Maud’ had its world premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival on September 8, 2019, and was released in the United Kingdom on October 9, 2020. The film hit U.S. theaters in a limited release on January 29. ‘Saint Maud’ will arrive on Epix on February 12.
Plot
‘Saint Maud’, as per A24, the production house that made the film, is a “chilling and boldly original vision of faith, madness, and salvation in a fallen world”. Maud, a hospice nurse, and a newly devout Roman Catholic, becomes obsessed with saving a dying patient -- Amanda, a dancer, and choreographer from the U.S. who is terminally ill with stage four lymphoma and confined to a wheelchair. Maud comes to believe that God has tasked her with saving the atheist Amanda's soul. But sinister forces, and her own sinful past, threaten to put an end to her holy calling."
Cast
Morfydd Clark as Maud
The 31-year-old Welsh stage and screen actress is best known for her roles on Netflix’s mini-series ‘Dracula’, HBO’s ‘His Dark Materials’, and films like ‘Eternal Beauty’, ‘The Personal History of David Copperfield’, ‘Pride and Prejudice and Zombies’, and ‘Interlude in Prague’.
Jennifer Ehle as Amanda
The 51-year-old British-American actress is best known for her role as Elizabeth Bennet in the 1995 BBC miniseries Pride and Prejudice’. It is a performance that won her the BAFTA TV Award for Best Actress. Her other notable roles in television include ‘The Camomile Lawn’, ‘A Gifted Man’, and ‘The Looming Tower’. Her film credits include titles such as ‘Wilde’, ‘Sunshine’, ‘The King's Speech’, ‘Contagion’, ‘Zero Dark Thirty’, ‘A Little Chaos’, ‘A Quiet Passion’, and ‘Little Men’.
The film’s cast also includes Lily Knight as Joy, Lily Frazer as Carol, Turlough Convery as Christian, Rosie Sansom as Ester, Marcus Hutton as Richard, Carl Prekopp as Homeless Pat, and Noa Bodner as Hilary.
Creators
The debut film from writer-director Rose Glass, ‘Saint Maud’ has been Executive Produced by Daniel Battsek, Mary Burke, and Sam Lavender. "I didn't want it to be this cerebral faith that we just have to go with," said Glass about Maud's relationship with the divine in the film. "There needed to be something tangible about it. In the beginning, it was more like she'd literally be talking to him, but I didn't find that as interesting. I wanted their relationship to have this physical nature to it. So that's where the sort of orgasmic moments came from when she feels God moving through her."
Trailer
The trailer for ‘Saint Maud’ only makes it clear just how obsessed the nurse is, and just how deranged her devotion to God is. We see her go from sugary sweet to murderous in a matter of seconds. One scene where she tortures herself with spikes inside her shoes is particularly jarring to watch but it only adds to the film's terrifying atmosphere. A24 films have a way of making psychological thriller films look both beautiful and bleak. ‘Saint Maud’ is no exception. Watch the trailer here:
If you like ‘Saint Maud’, you will also like
‘The VVitch’, ‘Hereditary’, ‘Midsommar’, ‘First Reformed’, and ‘The Invitation’.