Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Pete Walker set his films in pleasant English settings but in those settings something horrible is always going on, His masterpiece 'Frightmare' superbly mixes the domestic with the cannibalistic. Here it is the local priest who takes services and hears confessions in a dowdy looking suburban Catholic church but he is also obsessive about sexual behaviour and commits a few murders too. This mixture of the ordinary with the transgressive is the director's forte and he makes Hammer films look a bit tame. The murder of Mrs Davey at the altar rail is a fine example of this.The priest is played by veteran actor Anthony Sharp who has a unique voice and he is excellent. Yes he may be mad and homicidal but he is also pitiful. As his mother another veteran Hilda Barry has no lines of dialogue but conveys her fear adeptly with her eyes and hands. The great Sheila Keith with one eye (the character that is not the actress) as Miss Brabazon is not in it enough but she commands the screen as usual when she is on. Towards the end she gives a smile that gave me goosebumps. The other cast members are adequate.It is perhaps a little longer than the material can bear but it keeps one's attention and Stanley Myers provides another excellent score.

I've really got to disagree with most of the reviews I've read on House of Mortal Sin (I prefer that title to The Confessional). Most reviewers seem to see it as one of Pete Walker's weaker films. I saw it as one of his best – second only to House of Whipcord. It's an entertaining tale of one Priest's madness and the young girl who tries to reveal his secret. Instead of uncovering the truth, she's the one who is labeled "mad" for making such accusations against such a respected figure. She can't get anyone to believe her until it's too late.House of Mortal Sin includes some really suspenseful and tense moments. Viewing the picture, you learn early on just what the Priest is capable of. He's a holier-than-thou, above reproach figure who relishes his perversions and is quite at ease with viciously disposing of those who he feels stand in his way. It's really creepy watching the way he twists religion to meet his depraved desires. And to see the twinkle in his eye as he's trying to get the young girl to discuss her sex life is quite disturbing.Pete Walker was capable of getting more out of a group of relative unknown actors than most any director I've seen. As I've already alluded to, Anthony Sharp is outstanding as the demented Father Xavier Meldrum. Stephanie Beacham, Susan Penhaligon, and Norman Eshley all give terrific performances. And what can you really say about the genius of Shelia Keith. The woman was amazing. In the grand scheme of things, I'm a relative newcomer to Pete Walker's films. So my experiences with Keith are also relatively recent in nature. Still, having been aware of the woman for less than a year, I'm ready to put Keith on a list of my favorite actresses in horror movies alongside the likes of Barbara Steele and Edwige Fenech. Obviously, Keith is a different kind of actress with a vastly different style and look, but she's every bit their equal in the pleasure I derive from her work.

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.What I love about Walker's films is their seedy, sordid quality - I don't mean "T&A", but the overall sense of degeneracy and decay. There's no need for supernatural terrors in a Pete Walker film because he shows us that real life is grottier and more horrible than any vampire or ghost. In House of Mortal Sin, Susan Penhaligon's character goes into church in a fit of pique and unwittingly triggers a chain of events that, in a "spiralling descent", destroys not only her life, but the lives of everyone she touches. Her helplessness in the face of others' disbelief, her inability to convince anyone that she's not just an overwrought and silly girl, and the way that the "Establishment" closes ranks to protect its own is plausibly frightening, especially in light of recent revelations about institutionalised abuse routinely covered up by the Church.As the tortured priest, Anthony Sharp brilliantly veers between whining, childish self-pity and stone-faced, stone-hearted bombast, characterising the hypocrisy that Walker sees in the Catholic Church. Happy to leave his mother to the depredations of Sheila Keith's vicious housekeeper, manipulating the young people who come to him for help, and blaming his actions on other people, Meldrum is a monster.Producer/director Walker and scriptwriter McGillivray make the most of the priestly theme, having Meldrum commit his murders with holy paraphernalia like an especially twisted Avengers villain. The script is full of witty incidents and clever flourishes, and it's a shame that McGillivray's punning working title, Mass Murder, was dropped.Another cracking movie from Heritage, certainly worth seeking out. The scratchy print used in the recent Anchor Bay DVD release is past its prime, but is part of a superb package of Pete Walker movies. If only all horror films were made with this level of conviction and commitment.

The charming story of a priest.....who murders people! Meet Father Xavier Meldrum from the Church of the Sacred Heart. He uses religious means to bump off his enemies such as a poisoned wafer, incense burner and rosary beads. Splendid performance by Anthony Sharp (remember him as the government minister in A Clockwork Orange?) as the obsessed vicar and a good turn by Pete Walker regular Sheila Keith as a one eyed housekeeper. A well done musical score by Stanley Myers is also featured. Remember this movie the next time you go to confession!