St. Agatha(2018)
2018 · Darren Lynn Bousman · 103 min
St. Agatha is set in the 1950s in small town Georgia. A pregnant con woman named Agatha is on the run and seeks refuge in a convent hidden in deafening isolation. What first starts out as the perfect place to have a child turns into a dark lair where silence is forced. Ghastly secrets are masked, and every bit of will power Agatha has is tested. She soon learns the sick and twisted truth of the convent and the odd people that lurk inside its halls. Agatha must now find a way to discover the unyielding strength needed to escape and save her baby before she’s caged behind these walls forever.
Horror · Thriller
5.5228 votes
TMDB score
4/5
Intensity
3/5
Gore
3/5
Stays with you
How St. Agatha scares
St. Agatha builds its fear through dread and helplessness rather than jump scares, trapping its main character in a place where cruelty hides behind rules and routine. The scares come from feeling trapped and controlled, with bursts of physical punishment and body horror mixed in as things get more desperate. It leans grim and upsetting rather than fun, with a nasty streak once the abuse escalates. This one's for people who like nunnery horror and survival stories about escaping a truly awful place, not those looking for a light scare.
On The Horror Database's 0–5 scare profile, St. Agatha rates psychological 4/5, visceral 4/5, gore 3/5, lingering effect 3/5, and overall intensity 4/5.
- Psychological: 4 of 5
- Visceral: 4 of 5
- Gore: 3 of 5
- Lingering: 3 of 5
- Intensity: 4 of 5
Slow burn vs Jump scares: 25 of 100 — leans Slow burn
Supernatural vs Real-world: 90 of 100 — leans Real-world
Fun-scary vs Disturbing: 75 of 100 — leans Disturbing
Intensity over runtime
Shape only — no eventsReveal pacing shapeHide pacing shapeHidden by default — shows where the tension peaks and lets up.
A slow, unsettling settle-in gives way to mounting dread that builds into a punishing, escalating back half.
Intensity across the runtime, 0 to 100: 1, 1, 2, 2, 2, 3, 3, 4, 4, 5, 5, 4.
How scary is St. Agatha?
On The Horror Database's 0–5 intensity scale, St. Agatha rates 4/5 — one of the more punishing watches in the catalog, building its fear through slow-burn dread rather than shocks. It works on both fronts, unsettling the mind while going for the body. Expect it to be moderately gory and genuinely disturbing. Some of it will follow you to bed, but it lets go within a day or so.
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