Household Saints Movie Review

I can see why Household Saints intrigued non-Catholic audiences, but for me, it fell into the “Oh, Those Crazy Catholics!” file. Actually, it reminded me of the morbid stories the nuns used to tell us in Catholic school, which we were almost positive Never Happened. We heard the grisliest one from our second grade teacher and I have to admit we egged her on. Two nurses put an amputated arm in the bed of a third nurse, just to play a trick on her. When they check in on her later, she is completely mad and sucking the fingers of the amputated arm. What a nice story for seven-year-old kids…. Lili Taylor nails it as Teresa, who thinks she sees Jesus (Sebastien Roche) in her apartment and wants to be a saint when she dies. Creepy. The rest of the cast is quite good, especially Vincent D'Onofrio as Joseph Santangelo, but director Nancy Savoca's True Love and Dogfight are better. Based on a novel by Francine Prose.

1993 (R) 124m/C Tracey Ullman, Vincent D'Onofrio, Lili Taylor, Judith Malina, Michael Rispoli, Victor Argo, Michael Imperioli, Rachael Bella, Illeana Douglas, Joe Grifasi, Sebastien Roche; D: Nancy Savoca; W: Nancy Savoca, Richard Guay; C: Bobby Bukowski; M: Stephen Endelman. Independent Spirit Awards ‘94: Best Supporting Actress (Taylor); Nominations: Independent Spirit Awards ‘94: Best Actor (D'Onofrio), Best Screenplay. VHS, Closed Caption