Horror movies get away with a ton of absolutely wild choices that would be completely beyond the pale in most other genres. A weird horror movie can go so much further than a weird action or comedy film, so when a standout in the genre appears, it may struggle to find the audience it so clearly deserves. One such film is 2018's Apostle.
Apostle was directed, written, co-produced, and edited by Gareth Edwards, the director of Rogue One, Godzilla, and both films in the iconic martial arts franchise The Raid. The film had very little hype before release, premiered at a film festival, and enjoyed wide release via Netflix. Critical reception is mostly positive, but there was never as much buzz about this film as there should have been.
Apostle is the story of a man named Thomas, who travels in secret to a small island in 1905 to rescue his sister from a mysterious cult. Upon reaching the remote island, Thomas discovers that the island's denizens worship an esoteric religion espoused by a charismatic leader named Malcolm. As Thomas tries to blend in and work his way into the inner circle, he uncovers visceral horrors, supernatural nightmares, and a grotesque plan to keep the island thriving at the cost of untold misery.
The cast of this film is largely outstanding, the two leads carry their adversarial roles with admirable intensity. Thomas is portrayed by Dan Stevens, best known for his roles in Downton Abbey and Legion. Stevens finds the single-minded ambition in this character while remaining resourceful and pulling off the deception. The film puts Stevens in a wide variety of situations, from reacting in horror to fighting for his life, and he pulls each off very authentically. On the other side, the cult leader Malcolm is portrayed by the great Michael Scheen. Scheen stars in Good Omens and several Twilight films, but his performance here is chilling. He effortlessly Malcolm as the hybrid of friendly town preacher and demanding authoritarian, doing terrible things while remaining imminently likable. His composure and charisma play perfectly off of Stevens' rabid determination and violent drive.
Gareth Evans' experience on The Raid films shows through to a surprising degree in Apostle. Most action scenes in horror films are brief and perfunctory, typically little more than the victim being butchered or the final girl turning the table. With Apostle, Evans brought the visceral violence and frenetic combat of his previous films into the context of outright horror. The Raid is violent, but Apostle recontextualizes that style of action to deliver the anxiety of a horror scene within the catharsis of a beautifully choreographed fight scene. Characters are routinely fighting through one terrible situation after another, giving Edwards to show off his masterful grasp of The Raid's greatest gift; escalation.
Violence in film can take a massive variety of forms, from slapstick comedy to white knuckle action to visceral brutality. Apostle takes a fun approach to violence, by taking every approach to violence. This film is not for the faint of heart, after things get serious on the island, probably about 25 minutes in, the film is one rush of aggression after another with very little downtime. Thomas finds himself attached to Saw-like torture devices and in cathartic hand-to-hand duels within minutes of each other. The upper hand is always shifting, the audience can genuinely never get a sense of who will come out on top. Blood and gore do not make the action scenes work, the stellar direction, cinematography, and performances accomplish that.
Much of the film's elevator pitch would not strike the average audience as particularly strange, a viewer might even stumble upon the trailer and not see it as anything too far out there. The elements that make the film bizarre are well hidden and definitely spoilers, but the film goes off the rails in a spectacular way. There is a level of detachment to reality that makes the film feel less like a story and more like a nightmare played out on screen. Even from the very beginning, repeated phrases, intense paranoia, strange rules, and a lingering sense of struggling against something undefinable keep the viewer in suspense throughout. An early scene depicts Thomas, trying to convincingly blend in as he's on the ship traveling to the island when an unnamed cultist throws a squealing calf at least ten feet into the roiling sea. It's the kind of scene that audiences will need to rewind, possibly multiple times.
Apostle is a film that will stay in the viewer's mind, whether for the skin-crawling horror, the pulse-pounding action or the surreal visuals. There is not much out there like it, and it's a shame that the film was not spread as far as it could have been. It clearly is not for everyone, but Gareth Evans' Apostle absolutely must be seen to be believed.