Of all the various types of horror films, those which play with religious belief and iconography are the most unsettling to me.  I remember not being willing to see the original version of The Omen back when I was a teen because I thought it would terrify me.  Later on I saw it and wondered at the fuss.  Yet stories dealing with faith and damnation can still unnerve me if they are done well.  This one is slightly unnerving but I slept just fine after seeing it the other night.

Evan Spiliotopoulos’s film, based on a James Herbert novel titled “Shrine,” follows disgraced journalist Gerry Fenn (Jeffrey Dean Morgan) as he pursues a story — any story — to help resurrect his career.  He finds it in Banfield, Massachusetts, where a young deaf woman, Alice (Cricket Brown), witnesses a visitation from Mary, and regains her hearing and ability to speak.  As word of her miracle spreads, Fenn finds himself in the powerful position of her confidant . . . and yet his skepticism begins to burrow into the mysteries surrounding her miracle.  Eventually he discovers what is really going on, as well as his own involvement in its evolution, and he is forced to take drastic action.

The set-up is nicely handled and Jeffrey Dean Morgan is impressive as a man trying to find his footing in the world.  His believability anchors the story when it begins to wax poetic, while other characters are thoughtfully transparent in their motives.  Rather surprisingly to me, the story never tilts toward full-on horror; writer-director Spiliotopoulos is more interested in exploring how the multitudes of Banfield are so eager to accept the presence of a miracle and (for some) to take advantage of it.  The central mystery is easy enough to understand, thanks to the film’s 1845 prelude, so suspense about the premise is never unduly high, and the director shows real restraint in jarring his audience with violence and gore (it’s PG-13).  However, these decisions also render the story more routine than it might otherwise be.  Younger audiences might find the movie boring; older viewers might find its approach to the pitfalls of modern religious miracles to be interesting — and unsettling.  ☆ ☆ 1/2.  21 February 2022.