For a moment I was going to start this review with something like, “What a pity that Samara Weaving looks so much like Margot Robbie,” but then I realized how stupid that would sound. Being as beautiful as Weaving isn’t in itself grounds for pity, though I can’t help thinking she might have a fuller career if it wasn’t for the presence of her fellow Australian. At any rate, Weaving’s latest film Azrael shows that she looks better when she’s got no makeup on than when she’s all dolled up like in Chevalier or much of Ready or Not. Horror movies in general are the best showcase for her ability to look either as helpless as a trapped fawn or ready to lay waste.
The film takes the premise of Left Behind and treats it soberly, if not in too much depth. The good people have been raptured up to Heaven, and as you might expect, life is bad for the people remaining back down on Earth. Christianity has mutated into a barbaric practice that involves worship of graven images and performing sacrifices to the Burnt People, a race of revenants with charred skin and a taste for human flesh. And yet the Christians think that speaking is sinful, and so this film is mostly dialogue-free.
Weaving portrays a young woman named Azrael. The name has various meanings: In Hebrew, it means someone who is protected by God, but in Muslim angelology, Azrael is the name of the angel of death. Either interpretation works in the context of the story, though I still feel silly using the name when no one in the film does. Anyway, Azrael and the man she loves (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) are taken prisoner by the Christians who perform human sacrifices, and she’s tied to a chair in a forest clearing and cut on her skin to attract the Burnt People. However, she frees herself and stabs one of the believers so that the Burnt People eat him instead of her, and so begins a pursuit through the forest.
Films that set limits on themselves like this can be frustrating and gimmicky. This one wears its lack of dialogue lightly. If it never takes off the way A Quiet Place did, it comes somewhere near it in the scenes where we watch the Christians engage in silent rituals intended to appease their God. Director E.L. Katz pulls off a one-take shot after a car accident, when Azrael has to fight to the death against the gunman (Phong Giang) who killed the driver and caused the car to crash. The film culminates in a blasphemous parody of the Nativity scene, and even though it doesn’t quite coalesce into the devastating ending that the filmmakers are aiming for, it still works better than Lamb. Which is to say, it’s a pleasant way for horror fans and more casual types to spend 86 minutes.
Azrael
Starring Samara Weaving and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett. Directed by E.L. Katz. Written by Simon Barrett. Rated R.
