Apostle – spoiler alert

September 21, 2018
Horror / thriller
Television
UNITED STATES
Director: Gareth Evans

“Beware of the false prophets who come to you in sheep’s clothes, but internally, they are lovely wolves.” – Matthew 7:15 KJV

We are in 1905 and the capricious son of the prestigious Richardson family returned home; But not in a way he had hoped. Thomas (Dan Stevens) gets information telling him that his sister, Jennifer (Elen Rhys) was kidnapped by a religious cult and that there is a ransom requested for his return. He warned not to reveal who he is or to give the cult the ransom until he can see that Jennifer is alive. As Jennifer has always been there for him, Thomas promises to be there for her.

He is invited to join the cult and is taken to a boat with other members of the village of worship on an island off the coast of England. He does what he said and integrated well with the villagers, even winning the prophet’s confidence, Malcolm (Michael Sheen), after saving Malcolm’s life. Malcolm says he was chosen by the goddess who governs the island, and as long as they do as he says, she will warn them.

But even with the different knowledge he does, there is one that Thomas trusts more than the others: a younger man by the name of Jeremy (Bill Milner). Jeremy admits Thomas that he had known Jennifer and that Malcolm’s guards kept her locked up. He agrees to help Thomas recover Jennifer, but tells him not to pay the ransom. Starting the warning, Thomas decides to sneak Jennifer from the island.

However, there are problems that are annoying. Jeremy’s father, Frank (Paul Higgins) can see that the village is ruined and wants to make him keep his son away. The other who had helped to found the cult, Quinn (Mark Lewis Jones), is the brute force of the three and wants nothing more than to govern the island itself by keeping the goddess as his personal slave. He is a man of anger and revenge, proven by sculpting his own daughter, Ffion (Kristine Froseth) and by brutally killing Jeremy.

Through the evils and pain, death and dismemberment of friends, Thomas refuses to abandon. As he searches, he finds the goddess herself (Sharon Morgan). She begs him to release her, and he does it by putting it on fire. Afterwards, he finds Jennifer and rushes to do it, she and the daughter of Malcolm, Andrea (Lucy Boynton), to a boat that awaits them. Jennifer and Andrea do it, but Thomas, whom Quinn had stabbed several times, told them to leave him. As the boat moves away, Thomas’ body is taken by the island.

This film has a lot of what I like when it comes to horror: blood and gore. And believe me when I say, I become quite brutal. While you look, you can almost feel the hooks dig into your skin and your fingers torn from your hands. He had so much potential … So they ruined him by adding the whole goddess aspect. Unless a film claims to have supernatural phenomena, it just destroys horror for me. It is not so frightening for me, anyway, but something so exaggerated like what they did with this film, frankly, is simply disappointing. There is no part on this subject to fear. If they had left it with people who were tormenting each other, it would be a film that deserves to be watched, because there is nothing more frightening than knowledge of what humans are ready to do with each other. Add the goddess was such a discharge.

Also, animal deaths. I admit that it added to the global Ickiness, but if you are like me, these pieces will be very difficult to look at.

So, do I recommend this film? Just on the basis of the goddess part, I would say no. It did absolutely nothing for the film. If you are a gore fan, as I am, I would say it is worth it for that. The game cannot be discredited either. Michael Sheen, for me, is what saved the little of this film to offer. I had such great hopes when I entered this, and having to end up with a fairly negative review is really a disappointment. But I’m not going to lie; It’s like that. If you want to take two hours of your day and check it, it is not enough for me to judge you. But I will not waste my time anymore.

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