Film

Requiem

Other titles called Requiem: the 2018 series (BBC iPlayer).

A young Catholic woman with epilepsy stops taking her medication and experiences terrifying visions and voices. Her devout family pursues an exorcism, but the film remains deliberately ambiguous about whether she is mentally ill, spiritually afflicted, or both. It's a slow, unsettling examination of faith, medical doubt, and what happens when belief replaces treatment.

TMDb rating3.3

Should you watch it?

Watch it if you like quiet, unflinching character studies where a family's dread builds through small domestic details rather than jump scares, and you can sit with a faith story that refuses easy answers.

Skip it if you want spectacle or a satisfying scare, since the film stays austere and hushed, and its horror lives mostly in faces and silences rather than in set pieces.

What it asks of you: Roughly ninety minutes of patient, close-quarters observation; the camera lingers in rooms and on faces, and the mood stays hushed and grey from start to finish.

Not sure? Find tonight's pick in a minute.

If you liked this

The Exorcist1973

The canonical exorcism film, but approached with psychological sophistication rather than sensationalism. Its lingering dread and refusal to dismiss psychiatric explanations influenced how the genre thinks about possession.

But At fifty years old it moves deliberately, and the horror is more existential than visceral. Some find it overwrought rather than frightening.

The Exorcist poster

Hereditary2018

A modern family horror that takes religious trauma and mental illness with equal seriousness. It shares Requiem's refusal to choose between psychological and supernatural explanations, building dread through intimate family dynamics.

But Genuinely disturbing in ways that linger. The final act divides viewers sharply on whether it earns its extremity, and it demands patience in the build.

Hereditary poster

The Fountain2006

Made the same year, it's equally committed to ambiguity between spiritual transcendence and mental breakdown. A woman's faith journey becomes indistinguishable from her unraveling, told with visual poetry and genuine emotion.

But Deliberately non-linear and symbolic. If you prefer plots that clarify themselves, this will frustrate you by design.

The Fountain poster

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Requiem

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Shutter Island2010

Both films are structured as gradually revealed self-deceptions, where the protagonist's certainty about external forces turns inward. Belief and delusion become formally identical.

Scorsese's most underrated film: a U.S. marshal navigates an asylum where institutional horror and his own fractured mind become indistinguishable. Like Requiem, it argues that sometimes the most terrifying revelation is about what you've been told to accept.

But The twist divides people sharply. Knowing it exists may corrupt first viewing, and some find it melodramatic rather than troubling.

Shutter Island poster
More like this (7)

Under the Skin2014

Another slow, unsettling study in alienation and the body. It trusts atmosphere and discomfort over explanation, building a mood of wrongness that feels as spiritual as it is horrifying.

But Extremely elliptical with minimal dialogue or conventional narrative. Long stretches of silence and strangeness can feel self-indulgent rather than profound.

Under the Skin poster

Calvary2014

An Irish priest faces darkness within his faith community. Like Requiem, it takes Catholicism seriously as a lived experience while examining what faith demands when circumstances test it impossibly.

But Verbally heavy and philosophically dense. If you're watching for plot momentum rather than theological argument, it will feel static.

Calvary poster

The Innocents1961

A governess cannot tell whether two children are innocently troubled or genuinely haunted. Jack Clayton's masterpiece understands that ambiguity about sanity and possession is far more unsettling than certainty.

But A black-and-white period film that moves like glacial water. Modern audiences often find it too restrained to be scary.

The Innocents poster

A Dark Song2016

A grieving woman hires an occultist for a dangerous ritual. It takes spiritual searching seriously without dismissing grief-driven delusion, and treats both faith and doubt with genuine respect and tenderness.

But Extremely slow and dialogue-driven. The ritual takes most of the runtime, and if you're impatient with repetition it will test you.

A Dark Song poster

The Night House2021

A widow experiences haunting visions after her husband's suicide, but the film keeps her grief and possible madness locked in conversation. It's genuinely moving alongside being unsettling, balancing psychological realism with supernatural unease.

But The tonal mix of horror and heartbreak doesn't work for everyone. Some find the genre confusion dilutes both elements.

The Night House poster

A Tale of Two Sisters2003

A Korean film where supernatural horror and family trauma become impossible to separate. Like Requiem, it's far more interested in what the apparitions reveal about the living than in explaining them.

But The reveal, when it comes, makes the film hit differently on a second viewing. First-time viewers often find it frustratingly obscure.

A Tale of Two Sisters poster

Lourdes2009

Both films use Catholic settings to examine the body, faith, and institutional authority. Neither film believes the easy answers, and both respect the seriousness of what people seek in belief.

A Belgian film about a young woman in a wheelchair who visits the shrine at Lourdes seeking miraculous cure. It explores faith, bodily authenticity, and whether healing is spiritual or physical—without deciding, and without being cynical. Formally precise and genuinely moving.

But It's slow, subtitled, and philosophically austere. The lack of dramatic arc will read as cold if you're looking for emotional catharsis.

Lourdes poster

People

Cast

Directing

Writing

Production

Recommended by

The Living and the Dead, Housewife, The Memory Thief, Tender Son: The Frankenstein Project, Unfaithful, Macbeth, The Monitor, Before the Fall, Deadgirl, Solo Sunny