By now, you should expect something spooky to come after the A24 logo: It is, after all, the studio that brought us celebrated films like the culty Midsommar, pagan-ritual focused Hereditary, and Puritanical exploration The Witch. Now, A24 is bringing us a new creepy tale that seemingly has some DNA of all three movies.
The trailer for Saint Maud dropped on Tuesday, and it promises an exploration of faith you’ll likely be watching through your fingers. Maud (Morfydd Clark) is a hospice nurse hired to care for the enigmatic former dancer Amanda (Jennifer Ehle). Maud has recently become a devout Christian and is desperate to “save” her patient’s soul from eternal damnation. That will be hard to do, as Amanda seems to quietly mock Maud’s devotion to God.
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There may be something more sinister to Maud lurking beneath the surface. Though she’s now convinced that God is “within” her, it seems that Maud wasn’t always so faithful. A scene of Maud covered in blood in what appears to be a cell — and another of her friend questioning why Maud would ever go back to nursing after “what happened” — suggests there’s more to Maud than meets the eye. Is she an advocate for God…or for something else?
The Billie Eilish song "all the good girls go to hell" in the background speaks to the conflict here.
Maud putting sharp nails into her sneakers — and then walking around in them, while screaming in pain — suggests, at the very least, something is not quite right here. That’s obvious even before Maud hovers (a la Toni Collette in Hereditary) over the ground, compelled by some unseen supernatural force.
Rose Glass makes her feature directorial debut with Saint Maud, having previously helmed unsettling short films like Room 55 and The Silken Strand. Ari Aster, the mind behind Hereditary and Midsommar, was also plucked by A24 for his feature directorial debut after making a slew of shorts.
Check out the trailer below, if you can stomach it:
Saint Maud hits theaters this spring.