Saint Clare

I'd had this film on my watch list for quite a while as the premise sounded intriguing and from what I know about Bella Thorne, she's keen on artistic risks. While it was intriguing, it certainly wasn't worth the wait.

There are plenty of interesting ideas on offer, but several are under utilised or forgotten about. There's artistic flare at times, reminiscent of other recent horror such as Censor and, to a lesser extent, Saint Maud, but frankly the film is put together so sloppily that these are few and far between. For example, about ten minutes or so into the film, we're introduced to Frank Whaley's character, and it seems like we're suddenly getting a dynamic akin to Griffin Dunne in An American Werewolf in London, but the film soon gets bored of that.

Bella Thorne was fine as the titular Clare, and Whaley isn't bad either, but the rest of the cast felt either limp, hammy or in Ryan Phillipe's case, wooden. These performances, coupled with predictable twists and haphazard editing and directing create something held together with tape rather than superglue and it comes close to falling apart completely.

I really wanted to like this film after waiting for so long, and while I didn't hate it, it falls into the category of forgettable films like The Night House.

Had the pleasure of watching a review screener of this and it's fantastic. Mitzi Peirone steps up her game after the fantastic Braid and sees a high school girl huntibg and killing men whi assault young women. When her best friend is the next target all bets are off. Bella Thorne is magic. It has blood, comedy, violence, quirky characters, revenge driven girls and a ghost sidekick. What's not to love! I will definitely be watching again. It's in my top ten for the year to be sure. Peirone has taken everything she's learned from making her debut And dialed it up to 11 for a true and fun experience.

The idea behind this is good and different from these kinds of revenge horror movies. Usually when the lead is a woman who fights "the bag guys" she's been assaulted, attacked, something happens to her. But here, she's not a victim. She's not going after her attackers. She's like Dexter and with her own code.

The acting was great, Bella Thorne was amazing.

Ryan Phillippe however... Why? He's not a good actor and it kind of ruined what we're supposed to be tense moments in the movie.

Regarding the one of 2 plot twists, if you can call it that, it was so predictable, especially that the voice on the phone was distinctive, so you knew what was going to happen next.

The movie had good pacing until the "plot twists" those felt rushed, like not much effort had been put in.

It's an OK movie.

Bella gives a solid performance.

A good movie with some decent performances. For once a movie on a theme like this without any nudity or gore.

I was worried that the movie will probably be ruined in the final act, but thankfully the director held her vision and the movie was a great watch to the end.

By the way, this is not a horror movie, unless you consider having a ghost should label it as a horror, that is!.

Worth your time, do watch.

"Saint Clare" is a movie that I had not heard about prior to stumbling upon it here in 2025. And seeing that it was a horror movie of sorts, of course I opted to watch it.

Writers Mitzi Peirone and Guinevere Turner put together a script and narrative that started out nicely enough, but sort of stagnated and grew a bit boring and dull about halfway through. Granted, I haven't read the novel from writer Don Roff, so I don't know how true screen writers Mitzi Peirone and Guinevere Turner were to the source material.

The acting performances in the movie were good, and it was nice to see Rebecca De Mornay on the screen again. Aside from Rebecca De Mornay, the only familiar faces on the screen, for me at least, were Frank Whaley and Ryan Phillippe.

Visually, the movie was okay, but nothing outstanding.

Watchable, for sure, but I have to say that "Saint Clare" fell short of properly entertaining me from start to end.

"Saint Clare" is more of a thriller than it is a horror movie.

My rating of director Mitzi Peirone's 2024 movie "Saint Clare" lands on a four out of ten stars.