Synopsis
In 1905, a man travels to a remote island in search of his missing sister who has been kidnapped by a mysterious religious cult.
2018 Directed by Gareth Evans
In 1905, a man travels to a remote island in search of his missing sister who has been kidnapped by a mysterious religious cult.
Dan Stevens Michael Sheen Lucy Boynton Bill Milner Kristine Froseth Mark Lewis Jones Paul Higgins Elen Rhys Richard Elfyn Catrin Aaron Sharon Morgan Gareth John Bale Ioan Hefin Rhian Morgan John Weldon Gareth Pierce Rhys Meredith John Norton Ross O'Hennessy Sebastian McCheyne Owain Gwynn Annes Elwy Spencer Booth Toby Brierley Alekss Dudins Michael Gleeson Paul James Craig Jenkins Lex Lamprey Show All…
El apóstol, Απόστολος, Le bon apôtre, Apostolo, Apostol, Apóstolo, Апостол, 아포슬, El Apostol, Apóstol, アポストル 復讐の掟, Tông Đồ
The moments of physical action in this will have you drooling for what begs to be THE RAID meets THE WICKER MAN, but Evans is way more interested in a (very) slow to roll cult thriller. Extra points for not stringing you along with a "what's really going on here?" tease; this is very up-front even if it's 20 minutes too long. Anyway Evans can shoot the shit out of anything and this gets suitably gnarly when it counts.
first hour is kind of rough, lots of cliche characterization and ugly desaturated, handheld camera work (with no clear indication why its been shot this way until the last like 30m), but this hugely picks up around the time it goes full The Blood on Satan's Claw supernatural cult horror an hour in and then for some ungodly reason caps the whole thing off with 30m of "what if Witchfinder General was a torture porn movie?" unsure whether this is Actually Good or not but the bizarre whiplash of witnessing evans' paranoid, untethered photography and penchant for bonkers gruesomeness infect a 70s british folk horror locale in that finale was enough to get my lizard brain going and forget all the times actors opened their mouths in this. gotta be some value in that, right?
me: hehe look it’s matthew crawley! what’s matthew doing he—
dan stevens busting through the door and grabbing me by the throat: NO! NO! IT HAS BEEN SIX YEARS! I LOOK SO DIFFERENT! I DO HORROR THRILLERS NOW! IVE CHANGED
me: [spits in his face] HOW COULD YOU LEAVE LADY MARY ALL ON HER OWN
how could they give.... dan stevens.... an audiobook narrator.... like..... three lines... in his own movie... i just want to listen to his sexy voice shut up
I’m a big fan of slow, brooding, boring, period piece folk horror—rotting soil, vine blood goddess, Dan Stevens, bursts of violence, and an intense third act that sees Mark Lewis Jones channeling gonzo Oliver Reed.
I didn’t really care for either Raid movies, loved by many and that’s awesome, but this is way more my speed... I would have gone even higher but it was a tad long, even for me, purveyor of overlong slogs, but at least it didn’t put me to sleep like Hold the Dark did. When it comes down to it cults and a town covered in vines is just appealing to me? I dunno, I dug it.
I’ll gladly add this to my Folk Horror list.
Beware of false prophets, which come to you in sheep's clothing, but inwardly they are ravening wolves.
First Reformed: "I'm going to be the most atmospheric, disturbing, and enthralling exploration of faith in 2018!"
Apostle: "Hold my beer."
One of my most anticipated films of the year did not disappoint at all. Gareth Evans trades in claustrophobic fisticuffs spectacle for grand-scale Gothic horror, and proves he can do both almost equally well. Apostle is the film equivalent of nails on a chalkboard in the best way possible. Starts at the top of the board, going slow and quiet. But it keeps building and building until it's ear-splitting and cringe-inducing by the end. Again, this is all meant in a good…
So this is kind of like a slow burn version of The Wicker Man in which you’ll almost forget it’s by the guy who did The Raid until it becomes an unholy insane goreapalooza and then you’ll remember.
It’s pretty good.
SFF 18, Film 4, Netflix & Kill, Part 2: "The Raid of the Wicker Man" trifft es einigermaßen. Aber eben auch nicht völlig. Denn Gareth Evans hat noch ein wenig mehr im Sinn und Angebot, was ich allerdings hier nicht spoilen möchte. Er braucht nur ein wenig zu lang, um seinen psychologischen wie naturalistischen Albtraum gar nicht mal so unterschwellig zum Ende zu bringen. Dabei spannt er uns eigentlich gar nicht so lang auf die Folter(bank), sondern macht das lieber mit einigen anderen Figuren. Und obwohl er sich viel Mühe gibt, das alles so authentisch, dreckig (mit Schmutz bis in die Ohren) oder ecklig zu gestalten, wird die Illusion immer mal wieder durch Details wie strahlend weiße Zähne oder gezupfte Augenbrauen…
40
Unlike Midsommar, which at least counteracted its standard elements at many pivotal moments, this Gareth Evans film is both boring *and* unremarkable! A slow, slow-burn leading to a "shocking" finale that mostly just made me wish I was watching something with the verve to tell its story rather than walk me through the motions. Certainly well-crafted, but you could feel Evans the gonzo action maestro ready to burst out of his seat.
what is it with white people in rural areas forming religious horror cults all the damn time?
El folk horror tiene tan pocas películas que cualquiera es bienvenida.
Ésta es bastante floja en su primera parte, pero arranca cuando se pone asquerosita y ancestral. Aunque a casi todas del género les ocurre lo mismo.
Lo mejor, que Evans no olvida de dónde viene y se marca unas peleas estupendas.
Regulera
Okay so here's the thing about this movie... You have to know what you are getting into. If you have expectations set for something more along the lines of Mandy you are going to be disappointed like I was (I was also drunk). But after some further research and knowing what I am getting into and setting my expectations appropriately I thuroughly enjoyed this film and definitely recommend it.
Gareth Evans hace otro salto mortal después de hacer el mejor cine de artes marciales de los últimos años al folk horror con muy buenos resultados. Aun así hace un autoguiño a los dos Raids muy de agradecer.
The biggest praise I can give to Apostle is that watching it makes me feel the same way I did as when I read “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” for the first time. It throws a million different themes at the wall without really following through on any of them. It starts a bunch of different plot points none of which ever meaningfully play out. Every character seems primed for some real development yet is given none.
Yet it is able to make up for all of that with just sheer ability to deliver tension. Apostle is a simple movie compared to most modern horror fare. It is not deeply about Trauma or Race or Addiction or The Environment, and if it was trying to be, it is thoroughly unable to see those things through. But even without all of those things it is still able to offer up a great time just by hitting its marks so well.
Got halfway through before deciding this is a waste of time. Cast is pretty unconvincing. Cliche “have some nice looking shots of where everything’s gonna take place and then it’s gonna be boring”. Wants to be darker and more serious than it is.
Nice addition to the folk horror genre
Got thrown out of the story slightly at end as final shots of Dan Stevens looked a bit like Peter Gabriel's Sledgehammer video - lol
Once again, Michael Sheen is the only actor on set who knows what film he's in.
I didn't hate this, as spooky cult movies go. Helped that I was also doing a jigsaw puzzle at the same time.
Darren Carver-Balsiger 1,021 films
Pessimistic worldviews. For when you want to wallow in despair.
It doesn't matter if we all die.
Suggestions welcome.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------…
Tobias Andersen 8,775 films
Rules: Generate a number (from 1 to x) via: www.random.org
See how many number of films there are in the…
Rose 23,293 films
A list that is trying to contain every horror film made that is not lost and is found on the…
OB-GYN Kenobi 3,840 films
Step One: Go to www.random.org. Step Two: Pick a Number. Step Three: GET WEIRD!* *Nobody cares if you don't think…
Chris Vandenberg 1,000 films
Source data can be found via ryno731's original reddit post.
Hershey 20,423 films
I’m sick of sorting through concerts, series, and other non-movies. Anything with more than 1,000 views on Letterboxd (as of…
Hungkat 246 films
Forget 'em loud BOO-ing jump scares ‘cause these deliberate-cooked horrors/thrillers will burn you up.
Kiri Kiri Kiri Kiri 💉💉💉
Suggestions…
ZombAid 795 films
Did you know that Netflix is the biggest Film-Distributor of 2018? Of course there are a lot of duds in…
CatinmyBrain 433 films
A list of oddities from the last decade in every genre. For any body looking for something different.
Biscutbuu666 1,182 films
The fully annotated and definitive list of movies that are: 1) Horribly violent or exploitative 2) Emotionally devastating or psychologically…
Dan 31 films
Excited to be hosting again! Trying something a little different here, and I must admit that it wasn't entirely my…