Azrael Review – Judgment Without Clarity in a Silent Apocalypse

Mark Pacis — Tue, 17 Sep 2024 06:56:04 +0000

From the start, Azrael introduces audiences to an intriguing concept: What if the Rapture happens and people become mute as a punishment for their “sin of speech?” While dialogue-free horror films aren’t new (e.g., A Quiet Place or Don’t Breathe), Azrael takes a more aggressive approach by significantly restricting spoken dialogue than its predecessors. It relies heavily on visual storytelling, body language, and facial expressions to communicate its narrative. As a result, Azrael is an ambitious attempt at high-concept horror. However, while Azrael shows promise, its execution leaves much to be desired. The movie excels in certain areas, particularly its atmospheric visuals and relentless gore. Unfortunately, it stumbles everywhere else.

Building a post-apocalyptic world with minimal dialogue is a gigantic challenge. Sadly, Simon Barrett’s script feels sparse since it offers little context or explanation for many of the film’s key moments. The only direction the audience receives comes in title cards quoting biblical passages and your imagination. While some horror movies thrive on ambiguity, Azrael often leaves its viewers in the dark. The film forces them to piece together the plot with minimal clues scattered throughout the film. This results in an inconsistent story that can feel more confusing than chilling.

While Samara Weaving shines, Azrael struggles to balance its eerie silence with a coherent story.

Also, the film’s repetitive pacing ultimately hampers its potential. The lack of narrative progression becomes frustrating after a while. Scenes start to blur together, and the film struggles to maintain the audience’s interest. The pacing feels stagnant, without dialogue or significant plot developments to drive the story forward.

Despite these shortcomings, Azrael does have its strengths. Namely, Samara Weaving. As seen in her previous roles—particularly in Ready or Not—Weaving has a remarkable ability to convey emotion through facial expressions and body language. In Azrael, she takes these skills to another level, especially since she carries much of the film’s emotional weight without uttering a single word. She brings a fierce intensity to the role, embodying the archetype of the “final girl” who refuses to be a victim and takes revenge on those who have hurt her.

At the same time, Azrael offers no shortage of gore. Katz does not shy away from the bloodshed, and the violence is relentless throughout the film. The gruesome scenes will satisfy horror fans looking for flicks that shed buckets of blood. In these moments, Azrael shines, using practical effects and atmosphere to evoke a strong sense of dread.

Overall, Azrael is a film that takes risks, but not all of them pay off. While Weaving’s stellar performance is commendable, the inconsistent storytelling and sluggish pacing keep it from being great. Azrael could have been a standout in the horror genre with a more cohesive script and substantial narrative progression. Instead, it feels like an intriguing experiment that falls just short of its full potential.

Rating: 2/5 atoms

Azrael hits select theaters on September 27th.

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Scream VI – Blu-ray Review

Mark Pacis — Sun, 30 Jul 2023 08:34:58 +0000

Although each Scream film attempts to introduce slight changes to the story, the plotlines of the Scream franchise haven’t changed much over the years except for bringing in the next generation of victims and killers to the plot. However, moving the location from Woodsboro to New York City infuses new life into the film allowing the cast to react to their new surroundings while adding new ideas to the mix. First, Scream VI is a much bloodier and more brutal affair than its predecessors. This time, Ghostface isn’t afraid of using a gun to murder its victims; the kills are more violent and feature copious amounts of blood.

Unfortunately, figuring out who Ghostface is is more manageable this time around, which takes out half the fun. Most of the Scream films’ fun has been figuring out who the Ghostface killer or killers are. There are a lot of red herrings placed in the movie. Still, if you’re paying close attention to everything, you can quickly determine who the killer(s) are.

Nevertheless, Melissa Barrera and Jenna Ortega are talented young women who seamlessly step into this iconic horror franchise. Like the franchise’s original final girl, Sidney Prescott, Sam and Tara are strong characters who decide to take matters into their own hands and aren’t afraid to fight back. The rest of the cast, Jasmin Savoy-Brown, Mason Gooding, Jack Champion, and Liana Liberato, portray their characters well.

Overall, Scream VI is a nice change of pace for the franchise despite the ease of figuring out Ghostface’s identity. The various setpieces and this brutal new Ghostface work well to escalate the tension. You don’t know who will survive and who will meet their doom. After all, it’s the only thing that’ll keep you invested in the movie if you figure out who Ghostface is.

Movie Review: 3/5 atoms

Video

Scream VI hits Blu-ray with a 1080p MPEG-4 AVC HD presentation with a 2.39 aspect ratio. The highlights leap off the screen with excellent depth and zero bloom. Black levels are fantastic and offer fine details and depth within the shadows and Ghostface costume. The colors are bold throughout. Red, unsurprisingly, is the most vibrant out of the bunch. Likewise, the skin tones are healthy and natural-looking. The picture has substantial detail clarity in everything from faces and clothing to various interior and exterior settings.

Video Review: 4.5/5 atoms

Audio

Scream VI hits Blu-ray with a Dolby Atmos or a 7.1 Dolby TrueHD audio presentation if Atmos is not supported. This review will cover the Blu-ray’s Dolby Atmos mix. Much like the film, the Atmos mix is a solid track of very quiet quiets and stunningly loud louds. It repeatedly uses the soundstage to send music, sound effects, creepy atmospheric noises, and plenty of city noises to immerse the viewers. Unfortunately, the overheads are the only underused area of the Atmos track—primarily used to expand the front channels over the listener’s heads. The music ranges from Sven Faulconer and Brian Tyler’s score to the film’s soundtrack; all sound full-bodied and clear. Despite all of the action around the soundstage, the dialogue is crisp, clean, and perfectly audible throughout.

Audio Review: 4/5 atoms

Special Features

Scream VI hits Blu-ray with the following bonus features on the disc:

Commentary by Filmmakers
Death Comes to the City
The Faces of Death
More Meta than Meta
Bloodbath at a Bodega
An Apartment to Die For
The Night Train to Terror
Theater of Blood

Features Assessment

The best feature on that list is easily the audio commentary with directors Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett, executive producer Chad Villella, and co-writers James Vanderbilt and Guy Busick. The track is fun and full of interesting information that’s also a relatively easy and engaging listen. Next, the three setpiece featurettes (Bloodbath, Apartment, and Night Train) are solid, in-depth featurettes that highlight the film’s excellent stunt work. Unfortunately, the rest of the featurettes are all marketing pieces that are more about selling the movie than giving viewers a revealing look into the production.

Special Features Review: 3.5/5 atoms

Despite several shortcomings, Scream VI is a fun and entertaining installment in the franchise. The video and audio presentations are excellent, and the bonus features contain several solid features.

Overall Review: 4/5 atoms

Scream VI is now available in stores on Blu-ray.

This Blu-ray was provided by Paramount Home Media Distribution for review purposes.

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