Azrael

One of the things that almost every single film have to incude apart from costumes, make up and the direction of the film itself is that we need to have dialogue to get to know our characters. If the dialogue is well written and matches the characters well, it definetely helps the film become more interesting. Of course to be able to make the dialogue work properly the acting performance itself should be solid ( hopefully really good if the story is well written ). But what if the film have almost no dialogue at all and the actor ( or actors ) have to use body language and facial expressions in the entire film? That is exactly what the survival drama film All Is Lost from director J.C. Chandor ( director of the recent cinema release Kraven The Hunter that´s clearly a box office bomb ). Released in 2013 this film tell the story of a man who tries to survive out at sea after his sailing boat hits a floating container. The sailing ship is repaired as good as he can do but still have problems holding together through rough weather. At one point his sailing ship can no longer go on and its sinking while he uses his inflatable life boat. A well made survival drama that really capture the fear and desperation of a man who is loosing all hope. If you love survival films in general and want to see a unique film in this genre than this is the film i would recommend for you. Legendary actor and director Robert Redford deliver once more a powerful acting performance and proves you can make a solid film on a limited budget. I have to mention what makes this film unique is that the dialogue is extremely low so Robert Redford basically act with his body and face expressions. Speaking of very little dialouge i heard last year about a horror film called Azrael, that was supposed to be unique for barely having any dialogue at all. I had a feeling this could be a different horror experience so i just had to check this film out and picked up a blu ray copy. Is this the perfect way to start of 2025 when it comes to horror films or is Azrael not as good as people were saying in the horror community?

In a world where no one speaks, a devout female-led community hunts down a young woman named Azrael ( Samara Weaving ) who have escaped imprisonment. Azrael is due to be sacrificed to an ancient evil in the wilderness, but fights for her own survival.

I think it is very important to know that this horror film is in many ways inspired by biblical pages, so if you are going into this film you might as well know that this is a faith based horror film. With that being said i can honestly say that does not affect the quality of this film at all, in fact it actually makes perfect sense why they would use this in the film when you see how the world have turned. These forest areas where people have builded their own society on junk that they have found, looks like something out of a Mad Max film but without the desert. The post apocalyptic feeling can clearly be seen through the whole film and i do feel they did a really good job capturing the feeling of hopeless souls, not knowing if they will survive the demonic beasts out there wandering around. Speaking of these demonic creatures, i have to say they did a really good job on the practical make up effects on these creatures. Not only that but when these creatures feeds on human flesh you actually get to see them eating from the body through effective practical make up effects. So what about the characters? Since there is basically no dialogue in this entire film it means each actor has to use their body language and facial expressions. I would say basically the whole cast does a great job with what they have to work with ( it´s not easy acting without dialogue ) and the character that really sticks out is the lead character known as Azrael ( played by actress Samara Weaving from the very entertaining dark horror comedy Ready Or Not ). Not only does she act well physically but especially her facial expressions works really well. I actually don´t feel like i have to say anything negative about any specific details of Azrael, this is in fact a better horror film that i expected. Azrael is a raw,dirty and well made horror film that clearly show if you build an actual film set on a limited budget it looks way cooler than any CGI effects. I also really appreciate that they really worked hard to make the practical make up effects look this good. Combine all of this with a religious undertone and you have a horror film that not only stands out but actually feels interesting. Director E.L. Katz ( director of the 2019 TV series of Swamp Thing ) is clearly what we need in the world a horror if he continue making quality films such as this. No need to wait any further you pick up a physical copy of Azrael as well.

Rating: DDD