The Blackcoat’s Daughter has been on my VUDU account for a long time and I kept saying I’ll get around to it. It is a film with Emma Roberts of American Horror Story fame, and that should have been enough for me. But you know how it is. Sometimes you make excuses and avoid a film that you’re on the fence about.
Aside from Emma Roberts, the cast is quite good. Kiernan Shipka is known for her roles as Sally Draper on Mad Men and as Sabrina in the Chilling Adventures of Sabrina. James Remar is also in this and if you watch movies of TV shows, then you’ve seen James Remar. I don’t know how to quantify is most famous roles but he was Ajax in The Warriors and that speaks for itself.
As for the story, it’s not overly complicated, but we’re gonna have some spoilers. I truly encourage you to stop reading now because this is a good film that I am going to give a good rating to. If you see the spoiler, I feel the film will lose too much of its power.
SPOILERS ALERT
Well, the most obvious thing that I picked up on very early in the film was that we had two different stories happening and they were not happening in the same time frame. As a person who has seen the Saw films over and over, I felt that was easy to see, but I can understand why other people wouldn’t have.
The main story involves Kat and Rose who are school girls at a boarding school and it is time for winter break. Both stay back at the school for their own reasons. Rose needs to tell her boyfriend that she is pregnant. Kat says that her parents will be arriving a little late.
This is where the second story comes into play. Joan (Emma Roberts) escapes a mental institution and meets Bill and his wife Linda. Bill is a really nice guy and they are on their way to Bramford Joan needs a ride so Bill goes out of his way to really help her out.
Kat slowly goes crazy. She kills the 2 nuns that stayed back and then kills Rose. She also gets shot. Earlier on, one may have noted a scar on Joan. That is no coincidence since Joan is actually Kat a few years later and she needs to kill Rose’s parents.
Kat does go through an exorcism, but she was never possessed. There was no demon. It was loneliness and that made her create so much in her own mind. She brings the heads of Bill and Linda to the boiler room where all the crazy shit happened, but the room is cold and unused. She goes back to being lonely.
This is a film that may require a second viewing to really appreciate the story that is told. I certainly will be watching it a second time. It can be tricky to get everything from just one viewing.
The acting was very good, but this is most definitely a slow burn for a horror film. In that sense, it reminds me a little bit of The House Of The Devil. That’s a big compliment.
Rating: 6.3 – This is a difficult one to rate. I could argue for a 5.8 or a 6.8 and make compelling arguments. I decided to go right in the middle. It’s a really good movie for this type of film. With that being said, I am not sure if this has universal appeal, even among horror fans.
All the pictures used in this blog are for review purposes. They are the property of:
- Paris Film
- Eggplant Picture & Sound
- Movie Trailer House (trailer post-production services)
- Traveling Picture Show Company (TPSC)
- Unbroken Pictures
- Zed Filmworks
Please go find a copy and support the creators.