The Banishing

Having recently watched for the first time Ashley Thorpe’s Borley Rectory and re-watched Burnt Offerings, The Banishing comes at a fortuitous time as it draws on the phantoms of the former and the idea of a house that is just plain evil from the latter.

Opening with a bloody murder and suicide of a priest and his wife we go forward three years and the arrival of a new priest Linus (John Hefferman) and later on his wife Marianne (Jessica Brown Findlay) and daughter Adelaide (Anya McKenna-Bruce). The house is not in great condition though liveable.

However there are tensions which show up at the dinner table when Adelaide makes a small mistake. More telling are the sexual problems between Linus and Marianne a cause of tension that’s caught up with the pressure put on them by Bishop Malachi (John Lynch) and the stories circulating about the house being built on an old monastery where fanatical Christian monks carried out atrocities supposedly taking them closer to god.

Local historian Harry Price (Sean Harris) tries to warn both Linus and Marianne who is then warned off by Malachi. Though Price lacks credence due to his drinking he does however manage to get through to Marianne much to the chagrin of Linus who himself is now drinking heavily. Tensions start to build within the family. Mentally they are on a knife edge and with the spectral activity in the house intensifying it looks like they are losing control.

The English rural pre-war setting puts The Banishing in classic ghost and haunted house territory a la the Borley legend and the stories of M R James. Director Christopher Smith (written by David Beton, Ray Bogdanovich and Dean Lines) offers up a sinister pastoral ambience that with the mustiness of the house with its old library, books and hints of academia it’s easy to believe that whatever evil happened there has bled into and is now part of the fabric of the house.

The actors excel as the house starts to take over and the changes in character are skilfully handled. As Bishop Malachi Lynch oozes manipulation and menace and is a great foil to Harris’s foppish drunk.

There’s a very traditional vibe about The Banishing some could say old fashioned and while it may not be the most original story ever told, it is told very well. That it also layers in the politics of the time in an interesting way and possibly asks some searching questions of certain elements of society at the time.

The Banishing is available now on Shudder.