Review: 'Consecration' is bathed in its bloody atmosphere, but its plot is purely deviled ham

The Scottish horror thriller “Consecration” is swimming in atmosphere and, eventually, blood — which is as thick as the story behind it is thin.

The movie centers on Grace (Jena Malone), an ophthamologist living and working in London. She lives a rather ordinary life, which doesn’t explain why she has a premonition of an old nun confronting her in the middle of the street, pointing a revolver at her.

The movie puts a pin in that for awhile, as it shows Grace breaking down at the news that her brother, Michael, a priest in a remote Scottish convent, has died from suicide. Grace didn’t share her brother’s devotion to his religion — she declares herself an atheist early on — but she does believe, without proof, that Michael could not have killed himself.

In Scotland, Grace meets Inspector Harris (Thoren Ferguson), who’s investigating the deaths of Michael and another priest — though his jurisdiction is limited, because the convent belongs to The Vatican, which could assume control over the case at any time. That seems unlikely, based on the attitudes of The Vatican’s representative, Father Romero (Danny Huston), who declares his wish to bring the sometimes fanatical nuns closer to mainstream Catholicism. But those nuns — led by their Mother Superior (Janet Suzman) — are a force to be reckoned with.

As Grace digs into Michael’s belongings, including a journal written in code, she has questions about how her brother died — and what other secrets are hidden in the convent, which Father Romero is preparing to re-consecrate.

Director Christopher Smith, co-writing with Laurie Cook, provides ample brooding atmosphere in this faraway Scottish convent, and in the nightmarish visions Grace regularly sees. The movie looks good, which is why it’s even more disappointing that the story is only held together by the flimsiest of movie tropes — the one where the central figure doesn’t know or suspect the truth that everyone around her clearly knows. The unfair withholding of information, from Grace and from us, doesn’t give the movie a fair chance of working.

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‘Consecration’

★★

Opens Friday, February 10, in select theaters, and streaming later this year on Shudder. Rated R for bloody violent content and some language. Running time: 91 minutes.