The Monk – review

The French moviemaker Dominik Moll has followed his admirable Hitchcockian thriller Harry, He's Here to Help and the impressive Pinteresque psychological drama Lemming , with a respectful version of Matthew G Lewis's notorious 1796 gothic drama about a 16th-century Spanish monk led astray by an evil emissary and doing a deal with Satan himself. Vincent Cassel, looking like a priest out of a Zurbarán painting, is a formidable presence, and the picture is atmospherically lit by Patrick Blossier, but it's a rather dull offering – tasteful horror for the carriage trade.