cwbellor

I am honestly fascinated by this film. Firstly, I am baffled at how it has an average of 5.3. This is easily in the 4.0 range. Secondly, I am astounded by how this was made in the 21st Century. Hell, it could have been made in 1994 and I would still be baffled. Stylistically it falls somewhere between a Lifetime movie of the week and a European thriller of the 1970s. I even wondered in the first 10 minutes if the sweeping orchestral score was meant to be ironic in some way. Nope. The sincerity here is unmistakable. Put simply, the film is absolutely RUINED by the score. It's melodramatic, over-the-top and indulgent. It's like buying a frilly pink dress for your daughter and telling her she looks beautiful in it when she looks like Victorian era Barbie. I have to wonder if the composer was even getting some kind of revenge against the director for some reason.

I was looking forward to watching this as soon as I saw the trailer last year. The suggestion was that this was, conceptually similar to A Quiet Place (2018) and The Silence (2019) while having the urgency and intensity of survival/retribution thrillers like The Revenant (2015) and Apocalypto (2006). I was ready to feast on whatever Azrael had to offer cinematically, but I was met with a crumb trail. What lies at the end of that crumb trail is certainly intriguing (no spoilers here) but a few slices of bread would have been welcome. Or maybe boiling water is a better metaphor. There are moments of fever pitch intensity. Still, many horror and thriller fans will likely be impressed but not riveted.

We just aren't given enough to go with here. Every film, especially sci-fi and horror is accompanied by questions hanging over the viewer. With Azrael, we just don't get much in the way of answers. That would be bad enough, but the sense of urgency is barely even there. Yes, she's against the odds. Yes, we are on her side, but who is she? What does she want? Freedom from the community? Okay, but we don't even really know why she and her bf leave the community. They certainly don't seem like the nicest bunch of rural fanatics, but give us SOMETHING!!!

Interestingly, a more memorable antagonist would have made for a much better film. There is a villain but not a solid one ...certainly not one that we are anxious to see on the receiving end of the hero's wraith. Again, we just aren't given enough reason to be emotionally invested and if you don't have that, what's the point?