Studio: Mill Creek Entertainment
Release Date: 7/10/2023 (for the Blu-ray version)
Rating: R
Film Grade: B+
The Story: Edward Wayne Brady, convicted serial killer, is set to be executed; all that remains is a final psychiatric evaluation. Enter Dr. James Martin, a last-minute replacement for the prior doctor, who recently took his own life.
The case seems simple enough, with Brady being convicted of multiple murders. Martin just needs to determine his mental competence. If judged sane, he will be executed. Insane, and it will be halted. As the warden walks him to the interview room, he warns Martin that Brady is very good at manipulating people, including the prior psychiatrist.
That warning isn’t enough to prepare Martin for what comes next, as Brady tells him that he’s actually speaking to a demon who’s possessing Brady’s body. For someone on death row, he has some grand plans. . .
My Take: I stumbled upon this movie by sheer chance. With the current dearth of new releases, this one popped up on my Amazon list so we decided to give it a shot.
And are we glad we did. While marketed as a horror film it leans heavily to the suspense-end of the spectrum, and it’s almost entirely dialog-driven. This isn’t a typical possession movie – there’s no pea-soup vomit, head-turning, floating beds, growling voices, or objects flying through the air. The Pope’s Exorcist this is not. Instead, it’s primarily a fascinating conversation between two characters with extremely different viewpoints. Think of Hannibal Lecter interacting with Clarice Starling. It’s the kind of movie that could easily have been adapted into a stage play with no less effect.
Inspired by C. S. Lewis’s The Screwtape Letters, the movie makes no bones about its theological underpinnings. The viewer will be confronted with smart and sharply written dialog that some might consider challenging, thought-provoking, and even quite disagreeable. But any of those religious elements are coming directly from the characters acting in-character; a vital and essential aspect of the story.
Jordan Belfi plays Dr. Martin with a confidence and certainty that are challenged as events unfold. The real standout of the movie is Sean Patrick Flanery as Brady, robustly creating a character that is chilling, compelling, despicable, and even sympathetic at times. Even something as simple as ordering a meal comes through with a surprising emotional surprise. It’s the kind of performance that is deserving of recognition but falls inside of a movie and genre that is typically overlooked.
The one shortfall of the movie is the epilog. Clunky, and featuring a cameo by a real-life personality who might be considered unnecessarily divisive by some, it doesn’t add to the story even if it sets up a potential sequel.
Video: When watching a movie via streaming, you’re not really sure how much of the presentation is due to the way it was made versus the way it was delivered. There were some noticeable artifacts, but that’s likely the stream and not the way it was produced. That said, there was nothing about it that took away from the movie, and because the nature of the story isn’t reliant on visual brilliance, I didn’t have any complaints. Not demo material, but certainly adequate.
Audio: A simple 5.1 mix, the movie lives or dies on dialog, and it’s crisp and clear throughout. The musical score is minimalistic and fits the mood well. There are a handful of jump-scare moments that are effective enough, but this isn’t the kind of movie that needs to rely on them.
Special Features: None on Amazon, but there are some on the disc.
- Filmmaker Commentary
- Cast Commentary
- Interview With an Exorcist with Father Carlos Martins
- Speak of the Devil
- Nefarious Easter Eggs
Final Verdict: There’s been a minor revival of faith-based films recently, featuring better production values, scripts, directing, and acting. The Jesus Revolution and The Sound of Freedom show that modern moviemaking can still allow for deeper themes and ideas. Perhaps we'll start seeing a greater variety of films that offer diversity of thought in addition to other areas.
Nefarious deserves to stand with those other movies, even if one only it looks at it from Flanery’s outstanding performance. My wife doesn’t particularly care for horror movies, and absolutely hates any that feature demonic elements, but she was as impressed with this one as I was and gripped by the taut storytelling. At a relatively brisk 97 minutes, it breezes by, managing to keep one’s attention the whole time while still offering ideas to think about.
It's puzzling how it was ever assigned an R rating by the MPA. There’s almost no foul language, and little gore or violence. I’ve seen more provocative material on over-the-air network TV. This would have been better classified as PG-13.
In the end, this one of the rare cases where I purchased the Blu-ray the day after watching it. Highly recommended if you have Amazon Prime and aren’t automatically turned off by the idea of a movie that deals with theological elements. That said, I can see some people hating as much as we loved it, just depending on personal perspective and openness to other points of view.
Fun Dialog: "Probably just a coincidence, Jimmy."
My Review System: JVC DLA-RS3100 4K Ultra High-Definition Front Projector
Elite Screens Sable Frame B2 117” Width with Infinitely Variable Height
Monolith by Monoprice HTP-1 16 Channel Processor with Dirac Live
Monolith by Monoprice 7x200 Watts Amp
Monolith by Monoprice 3x200 Watts + 6x100 Watts Amp
JBL Studio 590 for Left, Center, Right, Wides, and Rears
JBL Studio 580 for Side Surrounds
JBL Studio SCS 8 for Tops
JTR Captivator 1400 Subwoofer X 4
Panasonic DP-UB420 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray Player
NVIDIA Shield Android TV - 4K
Xbox One X
HTPC Running madVR (work in progress)
Remote: URC MX-780
Mini DSP 2X4 HD controlling all subwoofers
APC S15 Power Conditioner with Battery Backup
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