Azrael (USA, 2024)

Another late substitution. I only heard about Azrael a few weeks ago and immediately decided I needed to put it on my list. While I don’t always enjoy Simon Barrett’s work, he’s written enough good films (You’re Next, The Guest, Dead Birds, and even Frankenfish come to mind) that I’ll watch pretty much anything he works on. I reviewed Seance, which he wrote, back in 2021, but thought that was one of his misses. I was hoping that Azrael might be a return to form.

Azrael is currently streaming on Shudder in the UK.

Synopsis

It is some time after the Rapture. A young woman, who the credits tell us is named Azrael, and her partner are ambushed in the woods by a group of obvious cultists. Like the cultists, she has a cruciform scar on her throat, suggesting that she is some apostate who has fled their ranks.

The couple are separated, and Azrael is dragged away to a clearing where the cultists strap her to a chair and perform a ritual that involves blood and heavy breathing. This attracts a shambling, charred figure, and Azrael struggles to free herself, injuring one of the cultists in the process. His bleeding attracts the shambling form, which then devours him as Azrael escapes.

And so begins a series of escalating acts of violence in which the cultists stalk Azrael and she, in turn, takes revenge. But what does the cult really want? How does Azrael feature in their plans? And is she really the innocent victim in all this? You might just about get the answers to these questions, but be prepared to work for them.

General Thoughts

The unofficial theme of this year seems to be “people being chased through the woods and not speaking much”. It wasn’t a deliberate choice, but here we are.

The post-Rapture world of Azrael is intriguing, and I wish we’d got to learn more about it. There are hints that life is perhaps continuing normally beyond the woods. If we take the idea of the Rapture at face value, this world must be populated with people too sinful for salvation. For all we know, it could just be our world, with these isolated cultists being the only people who understand what it really going on.

This apocalyptic community in the woods has guns and cars, even if they’re living in shacks. The overall effect is less Mad Max, however, and more like a Fallout 4 settlement. None of them have vocal cords, so they whistle to attract attention, and simply breathe their ritual chants. It’s interesting to compare them to the Guilty Remnant cult from The Leftovers, who were also completely silent, but we at least had dialogue from other characters to contextualise their actions.

Verdict

There is clearly a lot going on under the surface in this film, but most of what we see is just a series of chase and fight scenes. This is entertaining enough, even if it becomes a bit repetitive, but reading the official synopses suggests a much more interesting world than we’re presented with. I wish we’d had less running around and a little more depth.

The lack of dialogue doesn’t help on this front. We infer from the scars on the cult members’ throats that they have had their vocal cords severed in a ritual, although it’s never entirely clear why they do this. It is possible to make educated guesses, especially once we see their place of worship, but ultimately it feels like more of a gimmick than a crucial bit of world building. The lack of dialogue allows the filmmakers to focus more on action than exposition, but it also makes it harder for us to engage with the characters. When you’re struggling to understand the motivations of the protagonist, it’s hard to care about what they’re doing. The resolution does suggest some explanation, but it’s asking a lot of an audience to stick with a central character who is a cipher for much of the film.

What we’re left with is a perfectly fine action/horror movie, but one that is more spectacle than anything. The action is brutal and often thrilling, and there is some real tension at times. The story doesn’t pack any kind of emotional punch, however, even as it builds to what appears to be an apocalyptic conclusion. Azrael certainly gets points for creativity, but I’m not sure I enjoyed it that much.

The October Horror Movie Challenge

Please do join in and share your own thoughts with us about this or any other films as the month goes on. You can usually find us on Twitter, BlueSky, Reddit, Discord, or lurking in the dark corners of your home.

If you would like to play along at home, my provisional selections are:

We’re All Going to the World’s Fair (USA, 2021)
Tales That Witness Madness (UK, 1973)
When Evil Lurks (Argentina, 2023)
Under Paris (France, 2024)
In a Violent Nature (Canada, 2024)
Torso (Italy, 1973)
Titane (France, 2021)
Rorschach (USA, 2015)
The Coffee Table (Spain, 2024)
Dr Caligari (USA, 1989)
Bit (USA, 2020)
The Guard From Underground (Japan, 1992)
Oddity (Ireland, 2024)
Speak No Evil (Denmark/Netherlands, 2022)
Butcher, Baker, Nightmare Maker (USA, 1982)
Grave Torture (Indonesia, 2024)
Bedlam (USA, 1946)
The Innsmouth School For Girls (USA, 2023)
Daddy’s Head (UK, 2024)
All You Need Is Death (Ireland, 2024)
Eight Eyes (USA/Serbia, 2021)
Poor Things (Ireland/UK/USA, 2023)
Seven Deaths in the Cat’s Eye (Italy, 1973)
Longlegs (USA, 2024)
Night of Fear (Australia, 1973)
Stopmotion (UK, 2024)
Terrifier (USA, 2016)
Azrael (USA, 2024)
Faust (Germany, 1926)
Riki-Oh: The Story of Ricky (Hong Kong, 1991)
I Saw the TV Glow (USA, 2024)

A Final Note

If you have been enticed here by these posts, please do look around at some of our other film reviews. We also have a podcast, called The Good Friends of Jackson Elias, which occasionally covers horror films. If this appeals, you might want to check out some of the following episodes.