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Azrael -
Like another Shudder original from 2024, Arcadian, this is another solid post-apocalyptic horror movie that knows the power of silence. Also, like another memorable 2024 horror movie, In a Violent Nature, it knows that few settings in this genre are creepier than the woods. Samara Weaving doesn't need dialogue to convey the terror of being on the most wanted list in the most godforsaken forest imaginable. If it's not the silent cultists, whose sacrifice ritual she escaped, it's the ashen cannibalistic zombies she has to worry about! As our hero's name indicates, the story takes inspiration from a, well slightly famous book, and the movie deserves credit for conveying which passages in it inspired the cultists, especially since gestures and crudely drawn pictographs do the heavy lifting. There is one scene in the movie requiring dialogue, but it's hard to fault the movie about it since it has the gall to do it in Esperanto. Again, the production designers chose one creepy section of Estonia as the setting, and with its dilapidated concrete structures, it feels truly post-apocalyptic. There's also Gušnason's haunting, dungeon synth-y score, which is "got to download this right after the movie is over" good.
This movie is yet more evidence that Shudder originals are among the most reliably entertaining - and creepy - streaming exclusives being made today. It's not quite "best horror movies of 2024" grade, though: Azrael's good luck at escaping impossible situations eventually strains credulity. It mostly makes up for it with its banger of an ending, however, and if it were not already evident, it proves that Samara Weaving is one of the great scream queens working today.
Like another Shudder original from 2024, Arcadian, this is another solid post-apocalyptic horror movie that knows the power of silence. Also, like another memorable 2024 horror movie, In a Violent Nature, it knows that few settings in this genre are creepier than the woods. Samara Weaving doesn't need dialogue to convey the terror of being on the most wanted list in the most godforsaken forest imaginable. If it's not the silent cultists, whose sacrifice ritual she escaped, it's the ashen cannibalistic zombies she has to worry about! As our hero's name indicates, the story takes inspiration from a, well slightly famous book, and the movie deserves credit for conveying which passages in it inspired the cultists, especially since gestures and crudely drawn pictographs do the heavy lifting. There is one scene in the movie requiring dialogue, but it's hard to fault the movie about it since it has the gall to do it in Esperanto. Again, the production designers chose one creepy section of Estonia as the setting, and with its dilapidated concrete structures, it feels truly post-apocalyptic. There's also Gušnason's haunting, dungeon synth-y score, which is "got to download this right after the movie is over" good.
This movie is yet more evidence that Shudder originals are among the most reliably entertaining - and creepy - streaming exclusives being made today. It's not quite "best horror movies of 2024" grade, though: Azrael's good luck at escaping impossible situations eventually strains credulity. It mostly makes up for it with its banger of an ending, however, and if it were not already evident, it proves that Samara Weaving is one of the great scream queens working today.