Ep. 088: Saint Maud (2021) and After Dark

6 thoughts on “Ep. 088: Saint Maud (2021) and After Dark”

1. Hey guys! First off, loved the longer episode. If you guys go After Dark in the future, you surely won’t be disappointing me.

   Secondly, loved the review of Saint Maud. *Spoilers Ahead* I was initially disappointed with the film for its “presentation of supernatural and religious aspects that don’t exist simply because she’s crazy”. Then a friend posited that Maud is experiencing supernatural elements and that she is indeed in communication/ relations with an entity, THE DEVIL. I rewatched and found quite a few examples that can support this reading. I’ve presented these findings to a few online film communities and no one will have me. They simply rebuke the idea. I was SO EXCITED to hear you guys at least entertain it! My reasons for the things we see in the film being attributed to the Devil:
   -the way she is affected by the “heavenly” presence seems much more in tune with the carnal pleasures we attribute to Satan.
   -Lucifer being cast from Heaven for Arrogance can be doubled with Maud’s somewhat arrogant relationship with “God”, (i.e. “I KNEW you had more planned for me”)
   -Maud has two different color eyes and the filmmaker chooses to show only one eye in certain shots. Idea being that her blue eye is “the light” and the brown eye being “the dark”. Struggle between good and evil.
   -The wallpaper prominently shown throughout features vines heavily. This conjured connotations of Dante’s Inferno, Paradise Lost, Garden of Eden (the corruption of purity by evil entities)
   -the repetition of the big seems significant. It is featured crawling on the wall during the “Talking to God” scene which seems to symbolize something, and I’ve never seen god symbolized by insects.
   -the voice of “God” seems very dark and evil compared to how we would expect and it’s speaking Welsh which has seen its fair share of Satanic cult activity in the news in the past 10 years.

   -most prominent of all is the final shot of Maud burning in terror. I enjoy reading this as her sudden realization that she is not ascending but instead burning in hell for all of eternity. She realizes the error in her beliefs and it is far too late.

   I know these points may sound reaching, and it is quite plausible that none of this was intentional by the director but I nonetheless enjoy reading the film this way as I find it more thematically rich. The opposite reading leads us to the thematic telling that mentally ill persons are prone to fanaticism (in this case religious), and while this has been the case in the past for many people, I find this theme to be so understood that it is uninteresting to me. The reading I prefer is that people who suffer trauma often grasp for straws to help them in their struggles. And sometimes these straws are not as righteous as they seem. In the case of Maud, she believes she has grasped one straw, when in fact, she has reached a far more treacherous one.

   Again, you guys are the best! Thanks for pumping out consistent content and having interesting discussions.

   P.S.: I enjoyed the spoiler discussion. I would ask that in certain movies like this, perhaps you would consider doing them more often. I realize you are trying to reach your widest possible audience as well as recommend films to those who haven’t seen them but I don’t see issue with having a post conversation that deals in spoilers. You give the title of your next film a week ahead of time so those who want the spoiler talk have ample time to do their homework. Sometimes, in an effort to avoid spoilers, you guys do such intricate gymnastics to talk around the spoiler subject that it seems more difficult than just holding onto those opinions until later in the show. Just a thought. Later!

   1. What profound insight! Wow! I love your reading of Saint Maud. I want to see that movie so badly that I could punch a hole in the nearest wall! Lol. I’m impressed.

      Regarding spoilers… on my podcast, The Wat-Zee Party Horror Show, we do spoiler-free reviews, and then… when the outro music has played and the show is over… we conduct our spoiler-filled talk. I may pitch this to Jay as a possibility.

      Thanks so much for this comment, my friend!

      1. Thanks Watson, I do enjoy the structure of the Wat-zee Party. Spoiler talk seems to allow you guys to dive deeper into thematic elements without getting bogged down in code.

         1. Oh, wow! You’ve listened to Wat-Zee? I appreciate that a TON! Thanks so much!

            And yeah, my friend… with spoiler-free reviews, I think of those as a way to entice a listener… a way to talk them in or out of the movie, right? I like the challenge of dancing around spoilers. I really do! LOL.

            But man… when it comes to spoiler talk… I’m all about it, and you’re spot on when you say that’s when you can REALLY dive into the themes! That’s why we do the After Party on Wat-Zee, and I totally stole that from Jay… the idea of putting all the spoiler talk at the VERY end of the show. Jay didn’t even know I’ve been aping off of him since 2016! 😉

            Thanks so much for the feedback, Inbred Coop! You rock!

2. Thanks for this episode! Yes, I agree religion gets picked on by horror genre creators. I don’t personally do this, though I think there are a few reasons to explain why this is a trend. The upshot is writers/filmmakers don’t get shade from the horror community when they subvert depictions of organized religion in their work. That said, evil priest/pastor/deacon characters (false rescuer archetype) have been thoroughly done, so perhaps the trend will change soon. There are also great horror movies that have positive, serious depictions of faith (‘The Conjuring 2’ – which you covered, ‘The Exorcist’/’The Ninth Configuration’), and you mentioned the Tobe Hooper ‘Salem’s Lot’ mini-series on the episode. Just try to remember, like evil frat boy rapist characters in thrillers, those of us who belonged to a fraternity in college realize the writers are not saying that character represents ALL frat boys. Likewise, subverted/corrupted depictions of faith in horror are not personally directed at good folks who have faith and also love horror! Best I can do in one paragraph. Keep rocking!

   1. Victor,

      Well said, my friend! I agree with every word you’ve written here, and allow me to say that you are ever the wordsmith! I realize you are a professional writer, but still! This is gold!

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