After having been told by a friend about Pete Walker's warped Women In Prison film House of Whipcord,I decided that I should first pay a visit to Walker's "religious Giallo" at the House of Mortal Sin.
The plot:
Walking back home to the shop that she runs with her sister Vanessa,Jenny Welch bumps into an old friend who she has not seen in years called Bernard Cuttler,who Jenny is shocked to discover,has come to her village due to recently having become in priest for the local church.Finding it surprisingly easy to be completely open to Bernard about the recent messy end to the relationship with her long time boyfriend,Jenny is told by Cuttler that she should go and visit the church tomorrow,so that they can continue their discussion there.
The next day:
Finding that the church is currently taking confessions,Jennny decides to go into the confession box,in the hope of continuing her conversation with Cutler.To Jenny's disappointment,she discovers that instead of Cutler,the head vicar Father Xavier Meldrum is taking confessions.Deciding to stay for confession,Jenny begins to tell Meldrum about the feelings that she still has for her ex-boyfriend.
Expecting Xavier to talk to her in an understanding manner,Welch is instead horrified to find Meldrum pushing her into giving more info about her "bedroom" activates.Getting out of the confession box,and running away from the church,Jenny soon discovers that Meldrum is prepared to do everything necessary to make sure that none of his "sheep" escape from the flock.
View on the film:
For the screenplay of the film,writer David McGillivray gives an extremely clever,reverse twist to the Giallo outline,by making it that the audience sees the (sometimes) black glove wearing killer priest in plain sight,but the character's in the movie are unable to,due to be blinded by a fog-like faith that "their" saint:Father Xavier Meldrum would ever do something that would hurt his flock.
Along with the sinister Meldrum, (who has more than a little Norman Bates about him) McGillivray also fills the Meldrum's church with a number of shadowy character's who are more than happy to get hold of a razor blade,the moment that they risk being exposed,with Shelia Keith's tremendous,stern performance as Meldrum's aide Miss Brabazon being a particular highlight,as Keith shows Brabazon a deranged,almost totalitarian military general,who is willing to do anything to protect her captain.
Being drawn to the story partly due to being a lapsed Catholic,director Pete Walker attacks the institution of the church with a relish that the Italian Giallo directors surprisingly stayed mostly away from, (perhaps over fears about facing troubles with the Vatican?) with Walker smartly using the religious setting as a way to give the brilliantly stylised murder scenes a strong,gritty feel,that goes from strangling someone with Rosemary beads,to openly killing one of the townsfolk at Sunday Mass!
Along with the stylish killings,Walker also gives the movie a good Film Noir touch,as Jenny Welch (played by a terrific Susan Penhaligon) continues to walk round in her long raincoat,pulling those around her into the trouble that she finds her self in,that leads to Walker giving the movie an amazingly harsh,brutal and nihilistic ending that shows the saints and sinners of the village all ending up in the same bleak place.
The plot:
Walking back home to the shop that she runs with her sister Vanessa,Jenny Welch bumps into an old friend who she has not seen in years called Bernard Cuttler,who Jenny is shocked to discover,has come to her village due to recently having become in priest for the local church.Finding it surprisingly easy to be completely open to Bernard about the recent messy end to the relationship with her long time boyfriend,Jenny is told by Cuttler that she should go and visit the church tomorrow,so that they can continue their discussion there.
The next day:
Finding that the church is currently taking confessions,Jennny decides to go into the confession box,in the hope of continuing her conversation with Cutler.To Jenny's disappointment,she discovers that instead of Cutler,the head vicar Father Xavier Meldrum is taking confessions.Deciding to stay for confession,Jenny begins to tell Meldrum about the feelings that she still has for her ex-boyfriend.
Expecting Xavier to talk to her in an understanding manner,Welch is instead horrified to find Meldrum pushing her into giving more info about her "bedroom" activates.Getting out of the confession box,and running away from the church,Jenny soon discovers that Meldrum is prepared to do everything necessary to make sure that none of his "sheep" escape from the flock.
View on the film:
For the screenplay of the film,writer David McGillivray gives an extremely clever,reverse twist to the Giallo outline,by making it that the audience sees the (sometimes) black glove wearing killer priest in plain sight,but the character's in the movie are unable to,due to be blinded by a fog-like faith that "their" saint:Father Xavier Meldrum would ever do something that would hurt his flock.
Along with the sinister Meldrum, (who has more than a little Norman Bates about him) McGillivray also fills the Meldrum's church with a number of shadowy character's who are more than happy to get hold of a razor blade,the moment that they risk being exposed,with Shelia Keith's tremendous,stern performance as Meldrum's aide Miss Brabazon being a particular highlight,as Keith shows Brabazon a deranged,almost totalitarian military general,who is willing to do anything to protect her captain.
Being drawn to the story partly due to being a lapsed Catholic,director Pete Walker attacks the institution of the church with a relish that the Italian Giallo directors surprisingly stayed mostly away from, (perhaps over fears about facing troubles with the Vatican?) with Walker smartly using the religious setting as a way to give the brilliantly stylised murder scenes a strong,gritty feel,that goes from strangling someone with Rosemary beads,to openly killing one of the townsfolk at Sunday Mass!
Along with the stylish killings,Walker also gives the movie a good Film Noir touch,as Jenny Welch (played by a terrific Susan Penhaligon) continues to walk round in her long raincoat,pulling those around her into the trouble that she finds her self in,that leads to Walker giving the movie an amazingly harsh,brutal and nihilistic ending that shows the saints and sinners of the village all ending up in the same bleak place.