"Beware Of False Prophets Which Come To You In Sheep's Clothing..."
With an acute and overly clingy fondness for The Raid franchise ever since Iko Uwais first decided to clatter a room full of criminals in an exceptionally violent and undeniably impressive fashion on the orders of director, Gareth Evans, it's fair to say that no matter what the Welshman decides to take on next as a film project, I am instantly hooked and ready to savour whatever falls my way. Departing the world of Indonesian crime for the time being, Evans' latest, Apostle, drops onto Netflix this week, following on from the likes of big name directors such as Paul Greengrass and Alex Garland who have gleefully taken the steaming service's cash in order to develop their own movie on their own terms in return for exclusive streaming rights, and what Evans brings to the table is an overripe, hyper-violent and ridiculously entertaining period horror which revels in cramming together as many classic horror riffs as humanly possible into a narrative which sees Dan Stevens' (Legion) Thomas Richardson head to a remote island off the coast of Wales in order to infiltrate an extremist cult led by Michael Sheen's (Frost/Nixon) Prophet Malcolm who are holding his beloved sister hostage as they await payment from Richardson's rich father.
From the synopsis of Apostle alone, the immediate and obvious reference point is of course Robin Hardy's 1973 British horror classic, The Wicker Man, with Stevens essentially a covert cardboard cutout of Edward Woodward's Sgt. Neil Howie, albeit with lesser inner turmoils regarding the discovery of an extreme new religion and the fact that due to his willingness to remain hidden, violence could potentially reveal itself at any corner. Whilst the film seems to begin with an air of seriousness in its' introduction to Sheen's crazed cult leader and Lucy Boynton's (Murder on the Orient Express) reluctant daughter figure intent on being more than just the offspring of a prophet, the more the movie veers into a crazed blend of Silent Hill and the blood-splatting carnage of a film such as You're Next, the sillier it undeniably becomes, resulting in various X-rated set pieces which remind you that Gareth Evans really does like playing with things so over-the-top and bloodthirsty, they are guaranteed to make you squeal. Whilst the narrative does wander at times and the central mystery sort of veers off course in favour of the concluding bout of violence, the performances are dedicated, particularly from Sheen who gives his best blend of Shakespeare and Charles Manson as the leading antagonist, and the early twentieth century aesthetic is wonderfully creepy, and whilst the whole is indeed lesser than either of The Raid movies, Apostle is an interesting and very silly genre piece which ranks up there with the better originals to come from Netflix this year.
No comments:
Post a Comment