Back in 2016, when British director Christopher Smith was doing the film festivals tour presenting his action-thriller Detour (2016) [read our review], he claimed that would have been his last movie as European. His comment, full of cynicism and against the BREXIT madness, reflected the honest thoughts of a filmmaker who has always been working in entertainment, but that inside he is just a man like any other, concern about the problems in the world and with a love/hate relationship with his motherland, England, a country that perhaps he didn’t feel as much pride for as he did in the past.
His latest movie is The Banishing (2020), a film that is inspired by the British classics but in a modern horror key. It tells the true story of the most haunted house in England. A young reverend and his wife and daughter move into a manor with a horrifying secret. When a vengeful spirit haunts the little girl and threatens to tear the family apart, the reverend and his wife are forced to confront their beliefs. They must turn to black magic by seeking the help of a famous Occultist, or risk losing their daughter.
After his recent action-thriller-oriented works Detour (2016) and the TV series Curfew (2019– ) and Alex Rider (2020– ), Christopher Smith is back to the horror genre, the one that brought him his biggest hits Creep (2004), Severance (2006), Triangle (2009), and Black Death (2010). He has been the writer and director of The Banishing (2020).
The movie is starring Jessica Brown Findlay, Sean Harris, John Lynch, John Heffernan, Adam Hugill, Anya McKenna-Bruce, Jason Thorpe, James Swanton, and Amy Trigg.
After being part of the Sitges Film Festival and Frightfest, The Banishing (2020) is scheduled to be added to the Shudder catalog on April 15, 2021. Here you can watch its official trailer.
