have what quiet place Forging? This alien invasion horror film uses silence to heighten the tension in a rural setting, which is brilliantly executed. Characters don’t speak loudly, and even the audience feels pressure not to scream, as the film’s ravenous alien creatures chase sound. quiet placeThe success with critics and audiences not only spurred sequels (A Quiet Place Part 2) and prequel (A Quiet Place: Day One), but there are also opportunistic imitators, eager to use low-key gimmicks to make their own unrelated films stand out.
Last fall, writer-director Brian Duffield pitched a strikingly similar concept on Hulu: No one will save you, Kaitlyn Dever plays a country girl who suffers an alien invasion, but she doesn’t say a word.As Christmas approaches, John Woo’s behavior is disheartening Christmas Eve, Joel Kinnaman stars as a revenge-hungry antihero who has been left without a voice due to the scarring act of violence he suffered, but who, for obvious reasons, has no one else around him to speak, either.Coming now Azrael, terror collaboration cheap thrills Directed by EL Katz and you are next Writer Simon Barrett. Although talented, It also leans heavily into this scream-free gag, but that doesn’t make up for its flimsy storytelling.
what is Azrael about?
Written by Barrett and directed by Katz, Azrael Samara Weaving stars as the titular young woman who is not only named after the Angel of Death, but is also a member of a post-apocalyptic cult living deep in the woods, sworn to silence. Blood-red text splashed across the screen, concisely introducing the cult’s big rules: no talking; otherwise evil will come.
in a rugged village, Devotees worship the wind that blows through their airy churches decorated with crosses. They communicate with each other through stern looks and the sound of their breathing. Apart from the human sacrifice rituals, this seems to be a relatively peaceful place. Silent or not, these vampire-like creatures lurch around the woods in search of human blood and need something to feed.
Azrael was chosen by her community to be fed to Nosferatu-looking ghouls, and she was tied to a chair and left there like the poor goat she was. jurassic park — a meal that can be tied up and eaten alive. But this clever girl breaks free and not only lets the ghouls attack her rebellious community, but hunts them down so she can survive. It’s a story filled with bloody violence, best described as “chaos,” but with a very thin plot: survival.
Azrael It feels like a short film pushed beyond its limits.
Barrett and Katz have history with horror anthology series ABCs of death and V/H/S, Putting together a series of creepy shorts With some fragile through-wire or framing device. Azrael It feels like it started out as a brief pitch and didn’t live up to its full potential before being released into the world.
Part of the problem is that the plot lines are thinner than Weaving’s carefully groomed eyebrows. Even though I already have a boyfriend (candy manAzrael, played by Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, attempts to rescue a camp leader (played by Katariina Unt) who has a severe glowering power, and There’s little substance to the story of a hapless passerby confused by his predicament. The legends about what happened to the world, what the creatures were in the forest, or how the cult came to be are largely irrelevant. Frankly, that’s fine. These details don’t matter to Azrael because she’s just trying to get through the night, so they don’t matter to her audience. But something crucial is missing here: character.
Because Azrael has no dialogue, her actions become her primary character definition. That leaves us with very little. She loves kissing her boyfriend. She made him a bracelet out of tree branches. She also doesn’t want to be eaten alive by a forest vampire. It’s relevancy but not much investment. Azrael is a gesture toward the final girl archetype—sweet and bouncy, but without the depth to make her come alive.
Basically, Barrett and Katz take it for granted that audiences might want to know about the heroine they’re following through a grueling night of mayhem and murder.Or maybe they think cast braiding will generate enough audience goodwill to cover up the lazy protagonist. After all, genre fans are satisfied with every devilish smile, snarky retort, and expletive-laden rant that’s woven into the fabric. Nanny, hands on hipsand ready or Not. but Azrael Not like these movies.
This muted premise robs the audience of her sharp comedic timing and her undeniable charm as a foul-mouthed badass. This is not a playful collision of interesting plot and extreme violence. It’s a grim and gruesome religious pilgrimage that’s joyful in its gore but not at all funny.
The silent stunt is suffocating Azrael.
exist a quiet place, The family cannot speak safely, but they do speak to each other through sign language. Not only does this give the actors a way to express their characters’ thoughts, but it also gives the actors a foundational world to build upon for supernatural horror.exist Azrael, cults dramatically frown, smile, or sigh heavily to make their point. The result is an almost farcical pantomime that reads like a crude reenactment of a silent film performance. All the acting here relies on pained expressions, stern eyebrows, or silent screams. It’s more offensive and stupid than impactful or scary.
Perhaps Katz was trying to create an atmosphere that was far from familiar and instead filled with raw emotion, heady atmosphere, and fear. But with no dialogue or any well-defined characters, and a plot structure that’s blatantly designed to favor hasty killings rather than story, this religious horror film feels scary but monotonous. It’s not enough to make the audience settle down. Although full of blood and glossy religious symbols, Azrael It’s like an empty parlor trick – not even a cheap thrill.
Azrael Reviewed by SXSW 2024.