Intensity: 🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed/Co-written by Mitzi Peirone
Say hello to Saint Clare! No, not the patron saint of eye disease, goldsmiths, and television writers. This is the latest project from the skilled hands of Braid (2018) director, Mitzi Peirone!
Saint Clare: The Players
- Bella Thorne [The Babysitter: Killer Queen (2020)]: Clare Bleecker, a disturbed yet goal oriented young woman who’s trying to make the world a better place.
- Rebecca De Mornay [Mother’s Day (2010)]: Gigi Newberry, Clare’s grandmother. Protective, free-spirited, and possibly out of her depth.
- Joy Rovaris [TV’s Beauty In Black (2024-2025)]: Juliana LeBlanc, Clare’s wicked smart college friend.
- Erica Dasher [TV’s Jane By Design (2012)]: Amity Liston, Clare’s not-so-smart college friend.
- Ryan Phillippe [TV’s Motorheads (2025)]: Detective Rich Timmons, investigating the recent murder of a local man and very suspicious of our friend Clare.
Saint Clare: The Breakdown
Synopsis
With hearing voices, seeing visions, and getting the occasional visit from the ghost of a dead mailman (the wonderful Frank Whaley), Clare Bleecker is far from a normal young woman. Orphaned and traumatized, she now lives with her grandmother and goes to school in a small town. Oh, and her favorite hobby is murdering folks who intend to harm others.
When we finally catch up to her in Saint Clare, her latest assassination catapults her into a sinister web of corruption, kidnapping, and sex trafficking.
What’s a murderous small town girl to do?
Production
As expected from Mitzi Peirone, production quality in Saint Clare is top notch. Beautiful locations, great set decoration, and the sound work is consistently stellar throughout.
Special effects and make-up effects are minimal by design — a stabbing here, a gunshot there. When your monsters are all human you don’t need a lot of CGI filler to bring them to life. The Saint Clare filmmakers can rely on their great cast to do that.
Not to mention some fun camera angles and interesting cinematography that help set the mood and give weight to the characters. Especially during flashback sequences and Clare’s more “religious” moments. Kudos to the Saint Clare DP, Luka Bazeli!
Cast and Story
Saint Clare is based on Don Roff’s book Clare at Sixteen (Clare Bleecker Book 1) which means there was already a fully developed world to work with. As an adaptation, Saint Clare does differ from the novel — one obvious difference being Clare’s a college student in the movie — but having the novel as a foundation was certainly a benefit. The characters have more life in them and the story clips along at a good pace.
Regarding the acting in Saint Clare, it was fantastic to see Rebecca De Mornay again and it’s clear she had a good time with the role. Her scenes with Bella Thorne are some of the standouts in the film. Joy Rovaris as Clare’s friend, Juliana LeBlanc, also turned in a great performance. Oddly, Ryan Phillippe felt like an afterthought every time he showed up, but his coworkers easily carried the scenes and saved the day.
Summary
Saint Clare is a quirky, mildly violent, mystery-filled entry in the fun sub-genre of religious horror. While it may be more horror-adjacent than straight up scare fare, it’s still a great watch. And, with engaging supporting performances from Rebecca De Mornay and Frank Whaley, there’s always something just around the corner to keep you enthralled. Can’t wait to see what Mitzi Peirone comes up with next.
Amen.
Saint Clare was released on UK Digital on July 21 by 101 Films and can also be found streaming at Amazon, Apple TV, Google Play, and just about anywhere else.
Review by Robert Zilbauer.