Intensity: 🩸🩸🩸 out of 🩸🩸🩸🩸🩸
Directed by E.L. Katz
Movies with no dialog. Are we calling this a trend now? From Brian Duffield’s wonderful No One Will Save You (2023) to John Woo’s disappointing Silent Night (2023) and now Azrael. It seems like making a movie isn’t enough of a challenge for some folks so they’re upping the ante and going speechless. Albeit with mixed results.
Azrael: The Players
- Samara Weaving [Ready or Not (2019)]: Azrael, the feisty young woman who’s destined to be sacrificed by her cultish community. For unknown reasons, of course, because nobody can talk.
- Katariina Unt [Undergods (2020)] Josefine, the angry woman who’d really like to sacrifice Azrael. We don’t know why it has to be Azrael, of course, because nobody can talk.
- Nathan Stewart-Jarrett [Candyman (2021)]: Kenan, Azrael’s boyfriend who’s helping her escape. We only know his name from the credits, of course, because nobody can talk.
Azrael: The Breakdown
Synopsis
According to the explanation that’s written on the screen before the movie starts, Azrael takes place in a post-apocalyptic, religious world. The Rapture has happened and these are the remnants left to fend for themselves back on Earth.
Some of these un-Raptured folk have renounced “The Sin of Speech” and have hunkered down in off-the-grid extremist encampments. Our story begins as Azrael is hauled out by some of her fellow cult members as a sacrifice to the blood-thirsty beings that haunt the woods.
Production
As expected, the technical team behind Azrael is top-notch. Although the movie is primarily lit by torches and camp fires, lighting in the scenes is excellent. This becomes even more important given that the “monsters” are decked out in nearly solid black costumes.
Sound quality is also very important in the film due to its dialog-less nature. And the audio department stepped up to the challenge. Crackling fires, woodland sounds, and frightened breathing become crucial elements when nobody has any lines.
Special effects in Azrael are minimal, but well done. The creatures manage to get in a couple brutal maulings with convincing practical effects. The stunt team also does a good job with a painful looking fall and some reasonable fight scenes.
Cast and Story
No stranger to our favorite genre, Samara Weaving brings her A-game to the film. Even without words, her actions, expressions, and body language give her character life. Plus, she’s badass. You just can’t go wrong with Weaving.
As the primary antagonist, Katariina Unt also makes her character’s intentions and emotions very clear through physicality alone. Her leadership role in the community shows in her stance and posture even before she’s ordering people around.
Where Azrael falls short is the story itself. It’s decent if you just want a tense escape/revenge movie. However, if you’re looking for an actual story, this one’s hard to ferret out. The filmmakers try to help by starting the movie with a written introduction and sprinkling additional moderately explanatory quotes throughout.
Unfortunately, without any dialog to fill in the details, a lot remains unexplained. The audience is left wondering about too much of the story. This makes the whole film feel overly ambitious.
Summary
Overall, Azrael is worth a watch if you enjoy Samara Weaving kicking butt. Fans of opaque narratives will also enjoy picking this one apart. Otherwise, Azrael is a missed opportunity at making a fun religious-horror creature feature. It has all the elements: solid cast, good sets, and spooky monsters. It just needs more words.
Review by Robert Zilbauer.