Azrael

In the aftermath of the Rapture, Azrael (Samara Weaving) and her lover Kenan (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) are outcasts from a cult that have renounced the "sin of speech" by surgically removing their vocal chords. When the two are captured by the cult with Azrael sacrificed to the burned creatures that prowl the land she narrowly manages to escape and embarks on a quest of retribution against the cult.

Azrael comes to us from director E. L. Katz and writer Simon Barrett. The film came about as something personal for Barrett as per an interview by Katz with Comic Book Resources, Barrett came from a religiously oppressive upbringing and incorporated that with a dream he had that served as the basis for what would become Azrael. Uncompromisingly brutal and atmospheric, Azrael creates an engaging and immersive experience thanks to a strong lead and an effectively atmospheric world.

While Azrael covers well trodden ground of stories involving aftermath of the Rapture (such as the multitude of unimpressive Left Behind films), Azrael largely acts as a subversion of those films and is less about reaffirming faith with fear and more about creating a twisted world of faith gone wrong to the point it robs its followers (willing or unwilling) of their ability to speak leaving them in a cold unforgiving world without reason or argument. Being a dialogueless film, the actors have to rely more upon facial expressions, action, and suggestion to create character and build the world and they do so quite effectively with Samara Weaving particularly good as the titular Azrael. While the film is relatively small scale and features another visit to the all too familiar location of the woods with many films inspired by the likes of A Quiet Place (such as the recent and underwhelming Never Let Go) I felt it did a good enough job with its creation of the cult compound and the surrounding atmosphere to largely avoid the traps of some other similar films from this year. The movie has an absolutely fantastic ending that pays off the carnage in a memorably disturbing fashion and it made me think of the underrated Gareth Evans horror film Apsotle from 2018 and makes a great companion piece.

I really enjoyed Azrael. While it does cover familiar ground, it also creates a stylish and unique atmosphere and useless the increasingly common "no dialogue" gimmick to solid effect and creates a memorably brutal and engaging ride.

In a world in which no one speaks, a devout female-led community hunts down a young woman who has escaped her imprisonment. Recaptured by its ruthless leaders, Azrael is due to be sacrificed to pacify an ancient evil deep within the surrounding wilderness - but she'll stop at nothing to ensure her own survival. Azrael makes a savage bid for freedom as her escape accelerates towards a vicious, revenge-fueled showdown.

And what a showdown it is. Being hunted through the forest, captured, escaped, recaptured, re-escaped, captured again, Azrael is one unlucky woman the way she is hunted and captured over and over. However she thinks she has found the key to survival toward the end, but everything turns to gore filled carnage. And not a single word of dialogue the entire film. So the meaning of it depends on the actors acting ability, and our perception. What does the end mean? Well, your guess is as good as Azrael's... The acting isn't great, but the mood and the story are fabulous. It's well executed and paced well despite there being no dialogue and long shots of actors just staring at each other or into the distance. I really enjoyed it and gave it a solid 6 for gore entertainment.

Would have made a great short which seems to be the case for alot of these features these days. This film is massively padded out with dross that needs editing out. Found my eyes closing at a couple of moments during the film which is never a good sign, same was said for A Violent Nature. There's a reason no one has told the slasher story like that before and it's because it's a snooze fest.

This looks great on paper and like I said would make a great short but there is nothing in this feature that was new or unique. Mute cults... um sure, Valhalla Rising did this masterfully. Also I did not buy it. These people have supposed to be mute for a very long time yet they exhibit no real form of other communication. It all felt staged. A world not earned or lived in.

I think my biggest gripe is that this film lacks so much clarity. It presents a bunch of questions and answers none.

Some nice gory bits in it but that's about it.

There is only one positive thing about this film. The cinematography, but only a quarter of it. They reallly get you in the first act with this Resident Evil 4 aesthetic. After that, it's like they only had budget for a n00b of a camera operator.

However, the more we get into the story, if that's what you want to call it, the more comically ridiculous it gets.

For example, the whistling. That's really the next best way to communicate? There have been movies that I'm use sign language but it feels unnecessary to the narrative. But in this film, it is the perfect time to use some sign, and yet we are stuck with these idiots whistling at each other like some choo choo trains.

I would like to describe how frustrating it is to watch a film like this but ... there are no words.

It's some post appocalyptic scenario (maybe) and there are people in the woods who seem to (maybe) worship some force of evil, embodied by zombie-like demons that lurk in the woods.

People run around in the woods and there are some fights between the maybe good and maybe bad guys until eventually it draws to a somewhat unambiguous ending.

There are some awesome gore effects and the movie is expertly made but why they wanted to go the silent route is bizarre. It is tedious and you just don't care about any of the no-name characters and the things they don't say.

I'm sure some will rave about this movie but for me it did not work.