10 Most Terrifying Horror Movies Released In 2021 So Far
4. Saint Maud
It took a good little while for Saint Maud to make its way to the masses, but boy was it worth the wait.
Having premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in 2019, plans to release the movie were hit hard by the pandemic. Initially due to hit cinemas in the first half of last year, Saint Maud instead got a hugely limited, brief theatrical run last Halloween, before the picture was finally made widely available this February.
Without any sense of hyperbole, Saint Maud is one of the greatest horror efforts of the past decade and is one of the absolute best British horror films of all time. Both bold statements, but both 100% true. So far, this is the greatest horror picture of 2021 - although it's not quite the most terrifying.
From writer/director Rose Glass, the attention here is on Morfydd Clark's Maud, a recently converted, utterly dedicated Roman Catholic nurse who becomes obsessed with a dying ex-dancer who she's tasked with caring for.
Effortlessly stylish throughout, the horror and chills of Saint Maud aren't immediately clear, and Glass' effort is very much a slow burn. For Rose, she starts to have what could be construed as a crisis of faith, yet is possibly more down to the impact of loneliness and isolation - which in turn leads to larger questions about mental wellbeing.
By the time Saint Maud has drawn to a close, the sleek, suave tone of so much of the movie's opening act has long since diminished, as the plot spirals out of control and ends with a genuine kicker of a conclusion.
To say anymore would be veering on spoiler territory, and there is absolutely zero way that something as stunning as Saint Maud is being spoilt here.