Agnes: Mickey Reece's Sardonic Demon-Possessed Nun Tale Recalls Ken Russell's The Devils

By Thom Ernst

Rating: A 

There is an analogy in Agnes about God. It involves a sandwich. I am far from a religious man, but the God in a sandwich analogy is just about the most convincing sermon I've heard. 

I didn’t walk away from the film converted, but I’d be surprised if conversion was the director’s intent. His interest is in good people, even those who behave badly because of an internal torture brought on by grief or misery.

The director's name is Mickey Reece. You would be well advised to remember his name. It shouldn't be hard; It's the kind of name that deserves to be said as a whole. Mickey Reece.

Hayley McFarland plays Sister Agnes, whose affliction is either demon possession or conjunctivitis.

Agnes is only the second of Mickey Reece's films I've seen. He's a talent capable of soaring among the gods of cinema, but is comfortable flying close to the ground. 

I’ve been side-swiped by Mickey Reece before with his understated vampire thriller Climate of the Hunter a film I thought I hated until I saw it twice again. Why would I re-watch a movie I thought I hated? You'll have to ask Reece because the answer to the question is in the filmmaking. 

The first half of Agnes is set in a convent (which, I’ve noticed, is just one ‘t’ away from coven). During a rare celebration that the Mother Superior (Mary Buss) grudgingly allows, Sister Agnes (Hayley McFarland) erupts into a violent rage of obscenities. Father Donaghue (Ben Hall) - a priest who doesn't believe in demons but is willing to go through the motions of exorcism - is summoned when it's suspected that Agnes is possessed by a foul demon. 

PROUDLY SUPPORTS ORIGINAL-CIN

Father Donaghue brings the handsome Benjamin (Jake Horowitz). Although not quite yet a priest, Benjamin displays far more piety than his mentor. 

The nuns' reactions to the men, Mother Superior aside, reveal a worldliness otherwise not seen. But the quietest and most subservient of the nuns does not join in. Sister Mary (Molly C. Quinn), who Mother Superior refers to as the youngest and the lowliest, is too concerned about her friend. 

No one has been closer to Agnes than Mary. Witnessing the possession of Agnes throws Mary into a crisis of faith. 

That Agnes is a horror film is a misnomer. It can be disturbing, occasionally violent. But the horror is more aligned with mood and atmosphere than shock and gore, not unlike Ken Russell's exquisite 1971 tale of convent possession, The Devils. 

Agnes is a genre breaker that veers into unanticipated areas of drama, some of it absurd, some street-wise, and yet inescapably entertaining. 

But Mickey Reece's work, the little of it I've seen, strikes me as something that survives on its appeal to a select audience.  By no means is Agnes a crowd-pleaser. 

Reece is not beyond playing with absurdities to subvert his own narrative. Even with a foundation as solid as demonic possession—and within a convent no less—Reece seems unable to resist upsetting standards. In lesser hands, that could be a frustrating example of a lack of understanding about the fundamentals of storytelling or, worse, an insufferable display of pretension. But Mickey Reece is a skilled storyteller with an unmistakable dry wit. 

Agnes is a small miracle, a sardonic smirk of humour filtered through the guise of religious terror. It's not a flavour to suit all tastes, and that's fine. But Agnes is a welcome change of pace for those whose appetite leans towards themes with dramatically titled perspectives. 

Agnes is directed by Mickey Reece and stars Molly C. Quinn, Hayley McFarland, Jake Horowitz, and Ben Hall. Agnes is available on the Apple TV app/iTunes and other VOD platforms beginning December 10.