By David Dent
This is Steven M. Smith’s third film based around events at Borley Rectory, reputedly ‘the most haunted house in England’. His first, 2019’s The Haunting of Borley Rectory, was set in 1944 and his second, The Ghosts of Borley Rectory, filmed two years later, located the action in 1937.
For his third Borley opus Smith goes back further; initially to 1888 and then, for the majority of the movie, 12 years later. For this is a prequel to the oft told Rectory story of the nun’s ghost, which so interested ghost hunter Harry Price when he investigated the haunting many years later.
The Rev Harry Bull (Julian Glover) lies dying in Borley Rectory. While he reassures his family that there are no ghosts at the Rectory he gifts his son Henry (Corneille Dion Williams) a box which will, he confides mysteriously, keep the family safe.
Twelve years later Henry is now rector, residing at Borley with his mother Constance (Patsy Kensit, yes that Patsy Kensit) and his four sisters. Constance is stricken with visions of a nun being attacked by a priest and takes to her bed, where she’s attended by a nurse (former alt comedian Helen Lederer) and is visited by the ghost of her mother (Vicki ‘Allo’Allo, Virgin Witch Michelle). Uncle Somerset (Smith regular Mark Wingett) arrives to provide support; a concerned Henry, fearing supernatural shenanigans and rapidly questioning his faith, summons the Reverend Shaw (Simon Philips) for a second opinion and a solution to the haunting.
BR: TA is co-produced by genre stalwart Louisa Warren, and it’s possible that her presence has tempered some of Smith’s rough round the edges approach to filmmaking; some care has been expended on this one, including an impressive location (Ingatestone Hall in Essex), a very The Woman in Black feel (all period costumes and candlelight) and some good performances. There are even a few good jump scares although the spooks are perhaps a little more regularly visible that I’d have liked. I’ve not been a fan of most of Smith’s previous movies, but BR: TA is classy and occasionally scary.
Bloody Flicks 
Let’s be honest, this is a terrible film. The acting is dreadful. Heaven knows what Patsy Kensit was thinking?
If you want to see a good film on Borley Rectory, watch Borley Rectory [2017] with Reece Sheersmith. I mean even the Ghosts of Borley Rectory was better than this. Another little gem, was a much older film on Borley called The Haunting of Borley Manor.
I only wish they would make a documentary on this place. I regret that I hadn’t been able to visit the rectory before it had been demolished. Imagine all the history in that place
LikeLike