Quite some time since the Christian apocalypse Azrael and her partner escape from a female-led cult of zealots, unfortunately they are hunted down and captured. Azrael is separated from her partner and is assigned to be sacrificed to pacify an ancient evil that inhabits the wilderness that surrounds the cult camp site. She manages to escape and after a few missteps is left with nothing but gaining revenge on the cult. Get ready for one hell of a show down between the zealots and Azrael. 

Azrael is an indie production that explores the world post Christian Rapture. Basically Jesus calls all good Christians both alive and dead up to the mythical land in the sky leaving the rest of us with Hell on Earth. Okay that’s overly simplistic but you get the idea. Naturally this has led to the complete collapse of society with apparently society now in isolated communities in deep forests. Somehow they still have cars and guns etc., gas does have a shelve life but whatever. Strangely you would think with transport a wider society would have evolved, but guess that never happened, or the zealots Azrael is trying to escape from are sort of the ginger haired relatives the rest of the world is happy to leave in their isolation.

Complicating matters for Azrael is after dark is not a good time to be human, in fact you are better off holing up than running around after dark. Parents I have a solution to your teenage kid blues. Anyways roaming the forests are the “burnt people”, a sort of roasted horde of would be zombies or vampires, it is never really explained in the movie, but the zealots seem to have a compromise by sacrificing individuals to them. Oh the burnt people are attracted by blood, and don’t seem to have anything like good eyesight, guess Spec Savers have closed their doors post Rapture.

Guess this would explain why some folk would turn to that old fashion religion, which kind of adds to the overwhelming weirdness of this flick. Our Zealots have taken an extreme vow of silence; to the extent they have cut their own tongues out as speaking is a sin or something. Not entirely sure that’s written anywhere in the Bible, but hey not a biblical scholar over here, and it does sort of show a high degree of devotion. So if needing your dialogue in a movie you are out of luck, one character has the power of speech and he kind of pays a heavy price for that. Where our chatty Kathy comes from is never explained, but you know what, I was grooving to the movie’s beat and really didn’t care.

Anyways Azrael is on hand when her love interest is dragged off by the creatures of the night, who prove to be mortal, which sort of shoot to pieces my bubbling theory they might be harbingers of the anti-Christ or something. So we have our gal, played brilliantly by the ever reliable Samara Weaving, deciding to go on the warpath and extract some retribution from the zealots. Cool, let the body count start growing, and a few more dudes getting ripped apart by the burnt offerings wouldn’t go a miss either, long as they are zealots.

Azrael is one of those movies that can best be described as blood thirsty, poor Ms Weaving is left covered in blood by the end of it. We have death by creature, death by gun fire, the ever popular meat cleaver and big knifes, and some even more varied ways of despatching the support cast. So if after a quite family supernatural frolic then you are in the wrong place, this one is going for the jugular and isn’t apologetic about it. Before everyone reminds me I am a staunch anti gorenography campaigner, the movie doesn’t wallow in its bloodshed and isn’t out for cheap tricks to fool the audience of mainly young teen makes, this one is more mature than that, the violence is necessary to the plot.

While this movie might have gone off the horror reservation and been just another revenge flick, it is saved by the burnt people who add that necessary horror flavouring to the sundae. They are never explained, and as the end credits rolled I still wasn’t able to determine exactly who or what they were, though I get the feeling they may represent true evil, being drawn to the immediate post birth of a creature that would have Rosemary running away screaming. There’s probably a whole biblical thing there, but research isn’t my jam when reviewing above average Indie flicks, do your own background checks if requiring further enlightenment.

Guess we should talk about the baby, and that is one hell of a creature design, holy heck it gave me the jitters. The cult is all about appease God I guess, they missed out on a seat on the Rapture train, and naturally take things to extremes. During the course of the movie a pregnant chick seems to be the cult’s prized possession, she sure is well protected and pampered, not that I’m saying pregnant ladies shouldn’t be pampered. During the climatic final showdown, replete with meat cleavers and straight razors, the chick finally drops her bundle of joy and immediately commits suicide on viewing the bouncing bundle of joy via the judicial use of a machete. So did the God banging cult give birth to the anti-Christ? There’s probably a subtheme going down there, but hey was rocking to the action. Loved the look on Samara Weaving’s face at the end there, pure evil. Question of course is who are the good guys as the end credits roll?

Just wanted to mention the makeup department that go beyond the requirements to help make the movie successful. We get practical effects that deserve a standing ovation, was wondering how they achieve the effects on a low budget. Worth watching the movie to check out the effects going in folks.

Azrael was one of those surprise packages of 2024, and Indie movie that quickly gained traction amongst horror fans and started getting heavy support. The movie is brutal, is cut down to the bare basics, and gets where it is going without undue side tracks to take attention away from the main narrative. There’s a simmering feeling of violence in the movie that foreshadows the out and out mayhem we are headed toward. One of those movies that will have viewers debating what they have just watched into the early hours of the morning, full recommendation, this is outstanding horror on a budget. Oh btw Azrael is an Angel of Death in the three major religions, and for sure the reference fits. If you are after a robust horror movie, then dial A for entertainment, this movie will fit your requirements.