Film Review: NEFARIOUS (2023) 2 and a half out of 5 stars.

A serial killer on death row. The day of his scheduled execution. A state-appointed psychiatrist comes to evaluate the killer's mental competency. If the inmate is found insane, a stay of execution will be issued. Problem is, the killer claims to be possessed by a demon named Nefarious, a manipulative evil entity that is out to spread a “dark gospel” to all of humanity. What follows is a psychological/philosophical game of cat and mouse between the psychiatrist, a man of science and an atheist, and an ingenious killer who may or may not be a servant of hell.

Nefarious (2023) has, excuse the pun, one hell of a set-up. Too bad it doesn't deliver.

From the opening scene, which features a not so subtle hint that there are otherworldly forces at play, it’s obvious that the filmmakers aren't really in total control of the film's tone. The main crux of the film is the discourse between the psychiatrist and the inmate. Such a set-up depends mainly on the quality of the dialogue and performances. In Nefarious' case, both are sadly lacking.

Sean Patrick Flannery, a capable and versatile actor, delivers a twitchy, grating performance as the killer slash demon, and his dialogue is so on the nose about the film's message of a new dark age brought about by corrupt institutions and radical leftist ideology, that by the midway point, the film has little to offer. Jordan Belfi, on the other hand, is miscast as the slick, complacent psychiatrist, whose materialist worldview is seemingly no match for the spiritual maneuvering of the killer. While the script does little to add depth to either character, or provide any plot twists that haven't already been done to death.

The direction, by writing/directing team Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon, is competent but uninspired, giving the film an amateurish, bland feel, mainly due to a lack of atmosphere and an engaging sound design, both of which are musts for a film of this genre.

I went into Nefarious really wanting to like it, as I'm always on the side of a good independent film that has the courage to go against the mainstream. But Nefarious is a hard film to defend, as it commits the cardinal sin of most faith-based, and rigidly ideological films: it preaches to the choir, while not doing enough to win over viewers with different politics or worldviews.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2023.

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Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. He is also the host of The Dark Fantastic Podcast. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @DFantasticPodcast

The Dark Fantastic is sponsored by VHS Books:

Film Review: SYMPATHY FOR THE DEVIL (2023). 3 out of 5.

The less you know about Sympathy For The Devil (2023), the better.

That’s not to say that the plot is full of surprises, or that it’s somehow original. But the enjoyment of this kind of movie, centered on two characters, and structured around unraveling their pasts at a leisurely pace, depends on the viewer going in cold.

The plot: a meek middle-aged man (Joel Kinneman) on his way to the hospital for the birth of his second child, gets taken hostage at gunpoint by an unstable stranger dressed in red (Nicolas Cage). Under the stranger’s direction, they go on the road to destinations unknown. By the end of the journey, one of them will be dead.

It’s an intriguing, reliable concept, and director Yuval Adler handles it well enough, while Kinneman delivers a good performance as an everyday man in over his head, facing an almost demonic villain, played with enjoyable ferocity by Cage.

Problem is, everything about the film comes off as uneven. While Adler manages to create a compelling watching experience that has a certain mood, he doesn’t really have total command of the film’s tone. The film begins as a serious psychological thriller with existential undertones, then veers into standard revenge thriller territory, with Cage both enlivening and confusing matters with a bonkers performance that seems to promise revelations that never come.

The ending is not exactly surprising for this type of story, and seems to hint at some kind of religious/spiritual subtext that must have got lost in the way.

In the end, Sympathy For The Devil is a flawed but compelling night journey into the pasts of haunted men.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2023.

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Ahmed Khalifa is a filmmaker and novelist. He is the writer/director of several short films and a feature, which was released on Netflix, and the author of a number of novels and short stories, including the YA horror novel, Beware The Stranger, available on Amazon. He is also the host of The Dark Fantastic Podcast. Find him on Twitter @AFKhalifa and on Facebook @DFantasticPodcast

The Dark Fantastic is sponsored by VHS Books:

Film Review: EVIL DEAD RISE (2023) *** out of *****

In 1980, Sam Raimi and company created a singular filmmaking experience that was visceral, stylish, and a bit insane. The Evil Dead, released in 1981, was a commercial and critical hit, launching the careers of director Sam Raimi, producer Robert Tapert, and actor Bruce Campbell. Two sequels followed, each wilder than the one before it, followed twenty years later by a stunning remake/sequel in 2013, directed by Fede Alvarez, and with creative input from Raimi and his team.

Now, more than forty years after the release of the original, comes Evil Dead Rise (2023), a loose sequel/reboot set in a crumbling high rise.

Written and directed by Lee Cronin, Evil Dead Rise is a disappointment on almost all fronts, taking a franchise that is known for its originality and energy, and delivering a competent but bland and forgettable entry that seems more interested in subtext than scares.

A few years ago, when it was announced that Cronin would be the next filmmaker chosen to play in the Evil Dead sandbox, I was genuinely surprised. Cronin’s only feature, The Hole in The Ground, is a depressing, dour, and pretty style-less horror drama. Watching it, you never get the sense that Cronin - whose humorless, neo-goth style is pretty at odds with everything Evil Dead is known for - is not the right filmmaker for the job. Evil Dead Rise proves it.

Cronin’s script transports the proceedings from a cabin in the woods, to a dilapidated high rise in a bad neighborhood, another isolated setting in which the deadites, the evil spirits of the unholy book, the necronomicon, can wreak havoc.

But the setting is never used to its fullest potential. Instead, Cronin presents us with a single mother, whose tattoos and snarky attitude is supposed to make her “a strong female character”, I suppose. But since she isn’t developed in any meaningful way, and seems bored of her own children, she just comes off as extremely unlikable. As for the rest of the characters, they barely make a dent in one’s memory. Just more fodder for the cannon.

And Cronin seems to be intent on taking the franchise into a sort of po-faced, emo direction, resulting in one dour viewing experience. Because, as any good storyteller knows, if you want to get serious, you need to have likable, relatable characters that the audience can root for, that the audience can feel for when they get hurt, or maimed, or dismembered, things that Cronin subjects his cast of characters to relentlessly.

And then there’s the muddled subtext about feminism, fear of motherhood, “the male gaze”, and other heady subjects, which have no place in The Evil Dead franchise, which has alway been about terror, imagination, and style over substance. As for gender-swapping, The 2013 Evil Dead remake already did it, and did it wonderfully, under the guidance of writer/director Alvarez, who delivered a sleek, punchy Evil Dead entry that hit all the right notes and then some, while exuding plenty of energy and originality. In other words, it was both contemporary and timeless. Both respectful to the original, and intent on creating something new. Cronin’s film doesn’t have any of that. Instead, it’s just another well-made horror movie with plenty of gore and technical trickery, but no heart or soul. Just plenty of posturing, faux sentimentality, and one hell of a downer streak.

Evil Dead Rise is not a worthy addition to the series. Hell, it barely feels like an Evil Dead movie at all.

And while The Evil Dead movies have always been more about style than substance, Evil Dead Rise ends up having little substance, and even less style.

Text © Ahmed Khalifa. 2023.

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