The Confessional (1976)

A troubled young girl goes to confession at the local church. Unfortunately, the sexually frustrated priest she confesses to becomes obsessed with her. At first, the priest stalks the girl,... See full summary »

Director:

Pete Walker

Writers:

David McGillivray (screenplay), Pete Walker (from an original story by)

Stars:

Anthony Sharp, Susan Penhaligon, Stephanie Beacham

1 nomination.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Anthony Sharp	...	Father Xavier Meldrum
Susan Penhaligon	...	Jenny Welch
Stephanie Beacham	...	Vanessa Welch
Norman Eshley	...	Father Bernard Cutler
Sheila Keith	...	Miss Brabazon
Hilda Barry	...	Mrs. Meldrum
Stewart Bevan	...	Terry Wyatt (as Stuart Bevan)
Julia McCarthy	...	Mrs. Davey
John Yule	...	Robert (as Jon Yule)
Bill Kerr	...	Mr. Davey
Victor Winding	...	Dr. Gaudio
Jack Allen	...	GP
Kim Butcher	...	Valerie Davey
Ivor Salter	...	Gravedigger
Andrew Sachs	...	Man in Church

Storyline

A troubled young girl goes to confession at the local church. Unfortunately, the sexually frustrated priest she confesses to becomes obsessed with her. At first, the priest stalks the girl, but later it is revealed that he will stop at nothing, including blackmail and murder, just to get close to her.

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Plot Keywords:

thin girl | mini skirt | girl | women sharing a bed | short dress | 

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Taglines:

Tortured by desires his vows forbid...master of a house of mortal sin!

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

R

Did You Know?

Trivia

At 18 mins 50 seconds, the LP cover studied by Bob is "461 Ocean Boulevard" by Eric Clapton.

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Goofs

The cameraman is seen in the mirror when the daughter enters her bedroom and moves about at the beginning of the film.

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Quotes

Miss Brabazon: [to Meldrum's infirm mother] He's gone out again, I'm afraid... you're all alone again... with me.

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Connections

Featured in Courting Controversy (2005)

User Reviews

Killing in the name of ... Catholism!

The events in "House of Mortal Sin" make it more than clear: repressing your sexuality can have serious consequences!! This third collaboration between controversial director Pete Walker and scriptwriter David McGillivray is lesser known than "Frightmare" or "House of Whipcord", and maybe also not as good, but it still is very inventive exploitation with some twisted themes and exhilaratingly horrific sequences. Walker and McGillivray openly assault the Catholic Church here and associate the "holy institution" with hypocrisy, sexual perversion and even murder. Walker's intention clearly was to shock audiences and to stimulate an angry reaction from the Church. Perhaps he couldn't achieve all this, but "House of Mortal Sin" nevertheless remains an enjoyable and schlocky horror movie, surely worth purchasing in case you're into unhinged 70's cinema. The story follows a troubled young girl who hesitatingly goes to confession at her local church. The priest, Father Meldrum, is quite out of his mind and starts stalking the girl and even killing the so-called sinful men in her life. No matter who the girl turns to for help, Father Meldrum stays above suspicion at all times because he's a respected man of the Church and she's just a mentally unstable blonde. The main storyline gets a little tedious at times but there's a delightfully insane sub plot involving the priest's seemly 273-year-old senile mother and the disturbing housekeeper played by Sheila Keith! Eccentric characters and the downright oddball relationships between them are still Walker's greatest specialty and also the unhappy ending is present. The gore and violence is less outrageous than in "Frightmare" but the priests' killing methods are quite ingenious and, of course, religiously themed, like poisoned sacred wafers and rosary strangulations. Recommended!

Details

Country:

UK

Language:

English

Release Date:

March 1977 (USA)

Also Known As:

The Confessional

Filming Locations:

The Green, Richmond, Surrey, England, UK

Company Credits

Production Co:

Peter Walker (Heritage) Ltd.

Technical Specs

Runtime:

104 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1