10s Movie Review - Apostle

Director: Gareth Evans
Genre: Thriller/ Horror
Runtime: 130 minutes
Year: 2018
Starring: Dan Stevens, Richard Elfyn, Michael Sheen, Paul Higgins, Lucy Boynton

Description: In 1905, a drifter (Dan Stevens) on a dangerous mission to rescue his kidnapped sister tangles with a sinister religious cult on an isolated island.
 
Review: Broken Thomas is sent out to retrieve his kidnapped sister from the clutches of a solitary cult. Arriving on the island where the members worship a pagan Goddess, it soon becomes clear tat worshipping other Gods can turn out to be quite wrong.

“Apostle” is a Netflix Original and is a film in the ‘folk horror’ genre. The arrival of a righteous man in a world where everything he believes in turns out to be different seems to directly copy the beginning of “The Wicker Man”, and it gives of those vibes too. But other than this similarity, “Apostle” develops and it becomes a haunting film with its own story and with a style of its own.

Dan Stevens plays the lead role of Thomas, a man who has lost his faith in very painful ways. Michael Sheen plays the prophet Malcolm. Both really good in their roles.

“Apostle” is a solid, suspenseful and at times an unexpectedly gory horror film, with excellent acting. Fairly unknown, but worth watching if you’re a horror fan.

Rating: 4/ 5

Movie Review - The Pale Blue Eye

Director: Scott Cooper
Genre: Crime/ Thriller/ Horror
Runtime: 192 minutes
Year: 2022
Starring: Christian Bale, Harry Melling, Simon McBurney, Timothy Spall, Toby Jones, Gillian Anderson, Lucy Boynton, Charlotte Gainsbourg, Robert Duvall,
 
Description: A world-weary detective (Christian Bale) is hired to investigate the murder of a West Point cadet. Stymied by the cadets’ code of silence, he enlists one of their own to help unravel the case – a young man the world would come to know as Edgar Allen Poe (Harry Melling).

Review: Augustus Landor arrives anno 1830 at West Point, a remote military academy on the frozen Hudson River. It’s an atmospheric landscape, except that outside the gates a corpse is dangling from a tree. The mystery of “The Pale Blue Eye” loses momentum with each subsequent victim, and the icy setting is especially convincing.

Landor meets Edgar Allen Poe, who in his young adult years spent the winter at West Point. Landor and Poe work together in solving this crime.

Not surprisingly, after the first victim, many follow. During his search for the truth, Landor is tormented by his own demons: he is a widower, and sees before his mind’s eye his disappeared daughter.

The partnership between the elder Landor and the young Poe is by no means trouble-free, especially when Poe becomes obsessed with Lea, a stylish young lady plagued by a rare disease. Seeing Landor and Poe together is and remains somewhat uncomfortable, mainly because the film’s persistently serious tone suites Christian Bale better than his counterpart Harry Melling (best known as cousin Dudley in the Harry Potter-series). His interpretation of Poe’s character feels increasingly forced.

Through its blend of personal drama and occult mystery, “The Pale Blue Eye” ultimately tells two stories. In theory, these stories should complement each other seamlessly, but it eventually breaks up the story and make it overly explanatory. Still the well-kept picture direction and the atmospheric view of a wintry snowy landscape keep the first major film of 2023 engaging for more than two hours.

Rating: 3/ 5