Azrael (2024)

Streaming Service: Shudder
Movie Name/Year: Azrael (2024)
Genre: Horror, Action
Length: 1h 26min
Rating: R
Director: E.L. Katz
Writer: Simon Barrett
Actors: Samara Weaving, Vic Carmen Sonne, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett, Johhan Rosenberg, Eero Milonoff, Sebastian Bull, Rea Lest, Phong Giang, Katariina Unt
 
Blurb from IMDb: In a world where no one speaks, a devout female-led community hunts down a young woman who has escaped imprisonment. Recaptured, Azrael is due to be sacrificed to an ancient evil in the wilderness, but fights for her own survival.
 

Selina’s Point of View:
Azrael is an interesting flick, mainly because of the minimal dialogue.
 
Any film with minimal dialogue has a great deal more to accomplish than a normal one. In normal movies, there’s always something going on. Even if the characters are just sitting together, they’re talking. They’re engaging with each other and the audience. Then there’s the exposition. Nobody wants a ton of it, but it’s useful to have, especially in flicks where the setting is not the world we’re familiar with. Minimal dialogue films have to compensate for all of that with more riveting visuals and a story that speaks for itself.
 
I read some summaries of Azrael before I watched it, so I knew what was going on. I’m not entirely sure someone going into it blind would have come to the same conclusions, but the story would still make some kind of sense to them. They would pick up either Walking Dead (2010-2022) vibes, with the various not-so-nice camps, or catch a cult vibe. Both would fit. I kind of like that there’s room for interpretation.
 
The only issue someone might have while watching would be the various moments that sayings popped up on the screen. If they were interpreting something different, that would absolutely take them out of the moment. Even for me, knowing what it was about, the screens of writing slowed things down and took me out of it. Aside from the first explanation, the director should have just trusted his actors and setting to tell the whole story and his audience to not need handholding.
 

Speaking of actors, I love Samara Weaving (Ready or Not, Mayhem, The Babysitter). She is a modern goddess scream queen, and I will never be able to go on quite enough about her. Of course, I’ve mentioned before that one of the reasons I find her so mesmerizing is her scream. It portrays fear, sure, but there’s a primal rage in there that cannot be ignored.
 
So, how is she in a movie where her character has no voice?
 
Weaving taking this role that prevents her from using her most iconic feature, was a great idea. It allowed the rest of her acting prowess to take over. I was never bored when she was on screen. I understood her expressions and felt her pain in the silent, breathy, screams. She presented herself as no less scream queen, even without her voice.
 
I liked Azrael. It was different and dark. Everything I love in a post-apocalyptic flick.  

Rotten Tomatoes Critic Score – 71%
Rotten Tomatoes Audience Score – 59%
Metascore – 52%
Metacritic User Score – 4.0
IMDB Score – 5.4/10
 
Trust the Dice: Selina’s Rating – 3.5/5
 
Movie Trailer: