Apostle was written by Gareth Evens with Dan Stevens, who also acted in Beauty and the Beast (2017), as the Beast. I knew nothing about this movie before I watched it. I saw it on Netflix and decided to watch the trailer which peaked my curiosity. I didn’t know the writer, director, or even know who Gareth Evens was until I looked him up on IMDB. Knowing nothing about this movie allowed me to watch it without any expectations and I really enjoyed it. A little background about myself, my name is Charlie and I’ve been watching horror movies since I was a kid in the ‘80s. I’ve never done movie reviews before Josh at Dark Room Horror asked me to. I guess the reason he did is because I enjoy the thrill of a good horror movie and I am willing to watch a wide range of them. I enjoy watching most movies and can find something good in most movies. Once I start watching a movie, I rarely will not finish it. Demonic movies based on true events are my least favorite in the horror genre and most of the time I don’t even watch them. I didn’t find the movie very scary, but it did have a good plot, good acting, and some awesome special effects. It immediately gives the viewer the feeling that something eerie is happening but reveals the mystery slowly throughout, which builds the suspense. By the end, everything comes together and makes sense. There is a good build up to the climax and it doesn’t all end too quickly giving a sense of thrill and surprise. I really liked that the Apostle doesn’t do a lot of fast cut-aways, nor is it so dark that you can’t tell what is happening. And the music gives an ominous feeling throughout. I think the main theme of this film is the arrogance of man to believe that he can control things that he doesn’t understand and things that are more powerful than mankind, and how man is corrupted by power. It portrays the depths of depravity that people will go to in the pursuit of power and control. Every character is both good and bad which makes it more believable because life is complicated and everyone is flawed. One of the things I didn’t like about the Apostle was the ending, (Spoiler) not because the hero dies, but because they leave it open for the viewer to interpret and decide what happens. I typically don’t like movies that end that way because I like when the idea of the writer is brought to its full conclusion. To me, it’s like listening to a song and having to finish the lyrics. -Charlie
