Wise Blood Review

Wise Blood
A young veteran from the South wants to become something big and finds himself setting up his own Church so he can be leader of it.

by Kim Newman |
Published on
Release Date:

25 Mar 1979

Running Time:

108 minutes

Certificate:

15

Original Title:

Wise Blood

John Huston — billed weirdly as ‘Jhon Huston’ — was at his best when given a minor classic of modern literature, and this adaptation of Flannery O'Connor’s ‘Southern Gothic’ novel is one of his most satisfying, late-career films. Brad Dourif is at his twitchiest as sincere young veteran Hazel Motes, who wants to stand against crooked preachers by founding a charismatic Church Without Christ but finds himself pulled into all the scams of every other revivalist tent-show.

Harry Dean Stanton, as a fake blind evangelist, and little-known Dan Shor, as a tagalong imbecile, are memorable, and the underused Amy Wright is outstanding as a near-mad saint. Blackly comic and darkly melancholic.

Brad Dourif shows he was always great in one of John Huston's better later films.
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