Linnea Wee
Assistant Online Manager
Netflix’s new horror film “Apostle,” released on Oct. 12, sickens the audience with its intense gore and malicious acts of violence.
“Apostle” is a gruesomely dark movie that follows the journey of a man trying to rescue his sister from a deeply disturbed religious cult. The main character, Thomas Richardson, arrives at the island and observes the corrupt actions and horrific murders of the violent cult while searching for his sister who is being held for ransom.
Directed by Gareth Evans, the film stars Dan Stevens as Thomas Richardson, the story’s protagonist. The supporting actors include Lucy Boynton as Andrea, Kristine Froseth as Ffion, and Michael Sheen as Prophet Malcolm.
The first half of the movie is enjoyable and provides an interesting start to the plot, however the film shifts from being eerie and engaging, to the second half which is truly sickening to watch. The plot gets caught up in the horror aspect of the film, which does not include the classic jump scares and suspense of a good horror movie, but only creates fear in the viewer out of disgusting, violent scenes.
The acting is believable and intense, which is what makes the beginning of the movie so alluring. Each one of the actors, starring or supporting, shows raw emotion, creating an emotional attachment between the characters and audience throughout the whole movie.
The soundtrack for “Apostle” is intense and suspenseful, but never leads the scene to any actual scares. The high pitched and slow notes of the music scattered throughout the movie are meant to make it seem frightening, but it ultimately just adds a background noise to the bloodshed shown on screen.
What makes the movie so memorable is not the stellar acting or the interesting plot set up, but the scenes that are nauseating and horrifying to witness. Especially for a Netflix film, which is available to plenty of young viewers, the appalling cruelty of the cult’s murders are not something that anyone should ever have to witness.
Instead of a horror film which leaves the audience with an adrenaline rush and the satisfied feeling after a good scare, “Apostle” leaves the viewer in tears with an horribly uneasy feeling after watching the most gruesome murders one could think of.
“Apostle” had great potential to be a emotional and intense film, yet was ruined by the intensely nauseating scenes, making it hard to finish, and harder to appreciate the fantastic acting and overall intriguing storyline.
Netflix’s latest horror movie, “Apostle” was released on October 12 and is available to watch now only on Netflix.
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