Apostle - Hated It

​Apostle is a film brought to us by Netflix that takes place in 1905 and follows a young man who is on a mission to rescue his abducted sister. Dan Stevens stars as Thomas, who sneaks his way onto an island run but a religious cult. At first, the film doesn’t really give much information on the cult, other than the three leaders and the fact that they are worshipping something… different. As the movie progresses the story line becomes stranger and stranger, and honestly only brings little answers to questions that the audience could be asking. Luckily, I wasn’t left with any questions after the movie was over, just with a sense of not wanting to watch anymore horror movies that Netflix is trying to bring to us.
 
I was a little worried when I looked this movie up and saw that the run time was over 2 hours. Typically, horror movies are short and to the point… this one wasn’t unfortunately. For the most part, it was creepy so it had that aspect going for it, but other than that I didn’t see anything good about this film at all. To say it was “too gruesome” would be an understatement. I watch gory movies and TV shows all the time, but Apostle is by far the most disgusting and gruesome movie I think I’ve ever seen. There were literally times that I couldn’t even watch the screen – I can’t stop think about that poor teenage boy and what the horrible man did to him – my GOD who thinks up with these things. I watch Game of Thrones, which is full or torture and blood, but this was just too much.
 
I’d say the acting in this film is fairly adequate, and the tensions between all the characters seemed to ebb and flow as the film progressed. Tensions and anticipation were what really fueled the movie in my opinion. I think there were still times that I felt the story itself disconnected and I can’t really put my finger on what was missing. The ending was anticlimactic and unsatisfying. I understand the direction the writers were going with it, however it didn’t really add anything to the movie other than a “here we go again” statement in the back of my mind.
 
Overall, I really did not like this movie. It was able to bring the emotions that I’m sure the writers were going for – heart racing and anticipation to see what was actually going on at this island – but other than that I have no inclination to watch this movie again or even recommend it. I’m going to give it a “Hated It” rating. I’m sure there are plenty of people out there that would appreciate a movie like this, but I’m not included in that group. Never again please.