Apostle
London, 1905. Prodigal son Thomas Richardson (Dan Stevens) has returned home, only to learn that his sister is being held for ransom by a religious cult. Determined to get her back at any cost, Thomas travels to the idyllic island where the cult lives under the leadership of the charismatic Prophet Malcolm (Michael Sheen). As Thomas infiltrates the island's community, he learns that the corruption of mainland society that they claim to reject has infested the cult's ranks nonetheless - and uncovers a secret far more evil than he could have imagined. Written and directed by Gareth Evans (THE RAID), APOSTLE is a harrowing occult fable where the only thing more horrifying than madness is the sinister reality behind it.
1950, Llandyfaelog, Carmarthenshire, Wales, UK
1964, Scotland, UK
1964, Rhosllannerchrugog, Wales, UK
12 June 1975, Cardiff, Wales, UK
4 June 1993, Aberdare, Glamorgan, Wales, UK
1976, Wales, UK
7 January 1983, England
10 October 1982, Croydon, Surrey, England, UK
January1994, New York City, New York, USA
4 March 1995, Surrey, England, UK
1982 in Shanghai, China
October 11, 2018
Alas, everything here is muted build-up with little pay-off. Psychological realism is abandoned. Characters switch loyalties and temperaments for no reason.
October 11, 2018
Evans' signature intensity translates seamlessly in Apostle...
September 26, 2018
By the time Apostle arrives at its big reveal, the movie has veered off on so many tangled pathways that the ending can't resolve them all.
October 11, 2018
the brutality Evans uses so frequently is portrayed in such a gut-wrenching way that you can't help but squeal
October 12, 2018
That rarest of treats: a horror movie that starts out as one thing, and finishes having mutated into another.
October 12, 2018
A Gothic horror mystery that's less like an adrenaline shot to the heart than a rusty, hand-cranked drill to the skull.
October 11, 2018
Shifting his energies to a Victorian-era island blood cult hasn't dimmed Evans' taste for feverish body harm, but it's more clearly laid bare his narrative shortcomings.
October 12, 2018
This is a timely tussle with a nation's collective sense of shame.
October 11, 2018
Much like the cult it depicts, Apostle has a lot of powerful forces at its disposal, but can't seem to marshal those forces well enough to define its goals, much less achieve them.
October 02, 2018
Evans will likely disappoint many of the fans he has attracted here; while the film does build to some gory battles, it's hardly a thrill ride.
October 11, 2018
The film's victims are simply pawns in a super-gory bacchanal, which is aesthetically striking but emotionally dull.
October 11, 2018
Feels like a mash-up of 2015's arthouse chiller The Witch and 1973's original The Wicker Man, without being as engagingly creepy as either one of those movies.
