Sheila Keith, a veteran of Pete Walker's movies, gives another superb chilling performance. This time she plays the priest's housekeeper and takes care of his elderly mother. She is given one of the best lines in the movie and it can be found in the memorable quotes section. House of Mortal Sin/The Confessional works reasonably well. In particular, the initial confessional scene where Susan Penhaligon’s vulnerability is pounced upon by Anthony Sharp who forcefully probes deeper to get at her secrets, comes across with a psychological tautness. Walker delivers his trademark sensationalistic despatches, which come embedded in a plot that has a strong overarching moral edge. Anthony Sharp as the psychopathic Father Meldrum The actual murders of the real and imagined heroine's lovers were horrific. The hospital scene where innocence collides with savagery left no doubt that the beast had won out - as he did through to the end. The death of the 'mistaken libertine' in his hospital bed had a sense of future doom. Finding that the church is currently taking confessions,Jennny decides to go into the confession box,in the hope of continuing her conversation with Cutler.To Jenny's disappointment,she discovers that instead of Cutler,the head vicar Father Xavier Meldrum is taking confessions.Deciding to stay for confession,Jenny begins to tell Meldrum about the feelings that she still has for her ex-boyfriend.

This means that mortal sins cannot be done “accidentally.” A person who commits a mortal sin is one who knows that their sin is wrong, but still deliberately commits the sin anyway. This means that mortal sins are “premeditated” by the sinner and thus are truly a rejection of God’s law and love. For dealing with the psychological aspects of the movie, Walker relies on the actors to carry the story. And there are superb actors here. Immodesty, Including Wearing Leggings and Short Shorts. I could quote countless saints here, but the most succinct description is what the Mother of God said at Fatima: “ Certain fashions will be introduced that will offend Our Lord very much.”—Our Lady of Fatima, 1917. What are these certain fashions? If not leggings and short shorts, then what? Strangely, many Catholic women know this quote from Fatima, but they only apply it to women who wear less than themselves. Ladies, when you hear that quote from Our Lady of Fatima that certain fashions will lead you (and the men who look at you) to hell, are you imagining some imaginary time in the year 3022 when some fashion gets worse than leggings and short shorts? What could be more revealing than something that shows every nook and cranny below your waist? What would this magical outfit be that could be worse than that? There is nothing. Rather, let me assure you: The Mother of God very much meant that short shorts, leggings and bikinis will lead you to hell, including letting your little girls wear leggings. If you wear these things to Mass, you should also confess sacrilege. Or, if you don’t believe my interpretation of Mary’s words, then go for it. Wear it and let your daughters prance around Target in short-shorts and leggings. But might I suggest Pascal’s wager for this one: If your parish priest is right and Fr. Nix is wrong on his interpretation of Fatima, then the most you have lost is a little “comfort” in avoiding leggings for believing me in an erroneous state. But if Fr. Nix is correct in his interpretation (that Mary meant nothing worse than leggings and short-shorts) then just meditate on your first 15 seconds in hell. As Fr. Z says, just meditate on your first 15 seconds in hell. Meditate on that 7000 degree furnace for fifteen seconds and the realization that you just lost God forever because you thought leggings (again, that showed every nook and cranny of your nether-regions to every man around you) led you and countless men to hell for the sake of “comfort.” Am I using fear of hell to get you to stop wearing leggings and short shorts? Hell yes, I am. All sin is an offense against God and a rejection of his perfect love and justice. Yet, Jesus makes a distinction between two types of sins. We call the most serious and grave sins, mortal sins. Mortal sins destroy the grace of God in the heart of the sinner. By their very grave nature, a mortal sin cuts our relationship off from God and turns man away from his creator. St. Paul’s letter to the Hebrews tell us that “if we sin willfully after having the knowledge of the truth, there is now left no sacrifice for sins” (Hebrews 10:26). The second type of sin, venial sin, that of less grave matter, does not cut us off from Christ. However, venial sin does weaken grace in the soul and damages our relationship with God. A person who frequently indulges in venial sin is very likely to collapse into mortal sin if they persist in their evil ways.In a rare moment for Walker, he puts atmosphere ahead of everything else in the horror aspect of this production. Voluntary doubt of faith —Voluntary doubt of faith is disregarding the revealed truth of God and his Church (CCC 2088). Those who do this risk spiritual blindness and loss of faith.

Getting Drunk or High. I will be coming out with a podcast or blog post on drugs in the future, so let’s briefly focus on why getting drunk on alcohol is a mortal sin. Getting drunk is not a mortal sin only because it leads to doing other mortal sins (like most people say today), but also in and of it itself, drunkenness overturns the greatest natural gift given to us, our reason. The threshold to balance between buzzed and drunk for St. Alphonsus Liguori is not as difficult to meet as some might have thought: “ It is certain among all authorities that for it to be the case that drunkenness to be a mortal sin it is required that it would be perfect drunkenness, namely that it would altogether deprive one of the use of reason, just as St. Thomas teaches (II IIæ q. 150, a. 2), and with all the doctors. The malice of drunkenness consists in this, that a man, wishing and knowing, deprives himself of the use of reason. St. Antoninus teaches the same thing in p. 2 tit. 6, c. 3 § 1. This is why one would not sin mortally that did not altogether lose the use of reason from drinking wine, even if the mind were disturbed, but not so much that he were not able to discern between good and evil, as the authors commonly say…{It is] the common opinion to teach that drunkenness is not a mortal sin if it would deprive one from reason for only a brief period.”—St. Alphonsus Liguori Theologia Moralis, book II (in the Gaude edition it is a different number, but I forget which) On Sin, chapter 3, on the Capital Sins, Article II, what is Drunkenness? no. 75, If there is anything to quibble about it would be the younger priest's believing Father Cutler's every word and hurriedly renouncing the thought of not continuing in Cutler's shoes. But better than having him run to the police accusing Cutler. There is now the implication that evil will grow in his own church garden.Frightmare was criticised by those who felt Walker’s film was validating the idea that those responsible for extreme criminal acts, like Dorothy in the film, cannot be rehabilitated and that in most cases, recidivism is inevitable. (One might remember Margaret Thatcher’s 1961 defence of birching, quoted above in discussion of House of Whipcord). ‘The liberal press just took it [the film] apart’, Walker has said[8]. Idolatry—Idolatry is the worship, veneration or belief in false gods. Because it is a direct rejection of God, it is a grave sin (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). Idolatry includes worship of images (This does not mean that we cannot venerate religious images. Veneration of images such as a crucifix is veneration of the person depicted, and not the actual image in and of itself.) In the Bible, St. Paul gives us a list of grave sins. He states that anyone who commits these sins shall not enter the kingdom of God. “Now the works of the flesh are manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such like: of the which I tell you before, as I have also told you in time past, that they which do such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God” (Galatians 5:19-20). Paul also tells the Corinthians, “know you no that the unjust shall not possess the kingdom of God? Do not err: neither fornicators, nor idolaters, nor adulterers, nor the effeminate, nor liers with mankind, nor thieves, nor covetous, nor drunkards nor railers, nor extortioners shall possess the kingdom of God” (1 Corinthians 6:9-10). These sins constitute grave matter, and if they are committed willingly and with full consent, constitute mortal sin. P ete Walker is a filmmaker whose once-controversial pictures have acquired a strong cult cache in the years since their original release. House of Mortal Sin", a.k.a. "The Confessional", is a very well made and engrossing picture, telling a story that is certain to push some buttons. Yet, he dares to make Meldrum a more than one dimensional character, one that could even earn some sympathy, despite the basic fact that this guy is a murderer. Of course, Meldrum doesn't quite see himself as the bad guy (although he does feel some guilt, especially after a case of mistaken identity). He naturally believes that he's on the side of Good, and this, coupled with the fact that people give little credence to Jenny's accusations, ensures that Meldrum seems to be untouchable. Walker gives the excellent Sharp and his favorite actress, Sheila Keith (as a nursemaid to Meldrums' bed- ridden mother), some real showcase moments towards the end, and they are riveting. The whole cast is fine, though, with Penhaligon, Stephanie Beacham (as Jenny's sister Vanessa), and Eshley delivering personable performances.

With his creative foot firmly wedged in the door of feature film production, Walker soon made a name for himself as the director of feature-length softcore sex films such as Cool It, Carol!(1970) and The Four Dimensions of Greta (1972). The second of these has been claimed by Walker as the first British film shot in 3D; the picture features a handful of 3D scenes, and Walker would resurrect this effect in his terror picture The Flesh and Blood Show (also released in 1972), which featured a climax photographed in anaglyph 3D. (The 3D version of The Flesh and Blood Show wasn’t shown everywhere, however: a ‘flat’ version of the climax was also assembled, and Walker has admitted retrospectively that the 3D version wasn’t a success – most audience members misplacing their anaglyph glasses by the time the film reached its final sequences.) I just watched House of Mortal Sin again this evening. Pete Walker is one of my favourite directors, and his mid-1970s movies are high up on my list of classic British films. House of Mortal Sin is perhaps not as disturbing as the director's two previous movies, House of Whipcord or Frightmare, but makes up for it with flamboyantly entertaining murders and some mesmerising performances from (the ever dependable) Sheila Keith, Anthony Sharp and Stephanie Beacham. Presumption —The Church teaches of two types of sinful presumption: the presumption that man can save himself without help from God and the presumption that God’s power or his mercy will merit him forgiveness without repentance and conversion (CCC 2092). This cookie, set by YouTube, registers a unique ID to store data on what videos from YouTube the user has seen. Anthony Sharp gives the best performance of his career as the sexually-frustrated priest. This is a significant departure from his usual supporting roles as an authority figure in the form of a government official. He shows us a very self-tormented man, indulging in self-pity due to guilt at his own choices, harbouring perverse desires and feeling resentful of his mother for persuading him to become a priest. In other scenes, he shows someone who is cold, heartless, twisted and merciless. At all times, he gives everyone except the viewer and his victims the impression of being the genuinely respectable man of the moral high ground that people in the community regard him as.

See also

The cast here are pretty-stellar with standout performances by Anthony Sharp as the demented and fantastic performance as the unhinged and repressed Father Meldrum with his layered performance that's well-written for his tortured character. Pete Walker's mainstay Shelia Keith also gives a standout performance as the overbearing housekeeper with a sinister presence. Norman Eshley & Stephanie Beacham adds some much-needed warmth with their blossoming relationship & both have decent chemistry together, despite the movie's overwhelming gloom. Then there's Susan Penhaligon who plays the troubled Jenny who becomes the object of the priest's obsession. She does a fine job, but could have been given more to do, as she's pretty much absent from the climax.