Apostle (film)


Apostle is a 2018 period horror film written, directed and edited by Gareth Evans and starring Dan Stevens, Lucy Boynton, Mark Lewis Jones, Bill Milner, Kristine Froseth, Paul Higgins and Michael Sheen. It had its world premiere at Fantastic Fest in September 2018. The film began streaming on Netflix on 12 October 2018. The story follows a British man as he attempts to rescue his sister from an evil cult on a remote island. The film received generally positive reviews from critics.

Plot

In 1905, Thomas Richardson travels to a remote Welsh island to rescue his sister, Jennifer, who has been kidnapped and held for ransom by a mysterious cult. Posing as a convert to the cult, Thomas arrives and encounters the leader, Malcolm Howe, who founded the cult with two other convicts, Frank and Quinn. They claim that the previously barren island was rendered fertile through blood sacrifice. Thomas also discovers Frank's son Jeremy and Quinn's daughter Ffion sneaking home after a. He forces Jeremy to admit that Jennifer, whom Malcolm is presenting to cult members as a captured spy, was kidnapped for ransom, as the cult does not have the resources to pay for the continuous animal sacrifices needed to maintain the island's fertility.
Malcolm suspects an infiltrator among the newcomers and questions them. One of the men attempts to assassinate Malcolm, but Thomas intervenes and is badly wounded during the ordeal. The same night, Malcolm parades Jennifer through the village, claiming she is a traitor and will be killed if her co-conspirator does not come forward. Thomas accesses a tunnel underneath Malcolm's house and flees from what appears to be an old woman who chases him. He escapes to a beach cave covered in markings, indicating the presence of a deity on the island. Malcolm visits a barn where the old woman who is, in fact, the island's deity, is imprisoned in tree roots; he reprimands her for appearing to Thomas before feeding her his blood, causing the vegetation imprisoning her to bloom. Andrea finds Thomas in the cave and offers to help him. He tells her that he was a Christian missionary who was persecuted in Peking during the Boxer Rebellion for introducing Christianity to China, and lost his faith as a result. She takes him to a shack in a wheat field to hide.
Ffion and Jeremy meet in her home, where she reveals that she is pregnant and the pair decide to elope. Jeremy briefly leaves and returns to find that Quinn has murdered Ffion in a forced abortion. Jeremy stabs Quinn before fleeing through the field, where guards capture and return him; Thomas and Andrea follow them back. Quinn frames Jeremy for Ffion's murder and uses a "purification" ritual to murder him in front of the islanders. When Malcolm and Frank return and challenge him, Quinn calls Malcolm a false prophet and demands that he prove himself by killing Thomas. Frank, enraged by the death of his son, attacks Quinn, allowing Thomas to escape.
Frank and Thomas flee through the forest and eventually arrive at the barn where The Goddess is being held. Frank enters, intent on killing The Goddess, but is killed by a masked figure, The Grinder, whom Thomas witnesses force-feeding Frank's blood to The Goddess. Sneaking past The Grinder, he finds Jennifer alive but strung up in a sack. As he releases her, he is knocked unconscious. When he awakens, he finds himself tethered to a meat grinding table by hooks embedded into his hands and legs. Thomas escapes and kills The Grinder but not before the device mangles his hand.
Quinn reveals to a captive Jennifer and Andrea that he imprisoned The Goddess after he and Malcolm realized her powers. He plans to repeatedly impregnate them and use their offspring as blood sacrifices. Meanwhile, The Goddess shows Thomas her history with the cult, and begs him to set her free; he grants her wish by immolating her. The rest of the village catches fire and the villagers flee to boats. Thomas tracks down Quinn, and he, Andrea, and Jennifer eventually overpower and kill the cultist at the cost of Thomas sustaining several stab wounds. He collapses, bidding Jennifer and Andrea farewell as they escape by boat, also asking them to pray for him. His faith restored, Thomas is discovered by an injured Malcolm. As Thomas bleeds onto the ground, the vegetation around him begins to grow and infuse itself within his body, while his eyes turn the same shape and color as the goddess's, signifying his rebirth as the new guardian of the island.

Cast

On 2 November 2016, it was announced that Gareth Evans was working on a new project that he would write and direct. Dan Stevens was confirmed to be cast in the lead role. In March 2017, the film was picked up by Netflix. Later that month, it was announced that Michael Sheen, Lucy Boynton, Bill Milner and Kristine Froseth had joined the cast. Filming started in April 2017. The film was largely shot on a set built at Margam Park in Neath Port Talbot, Wales.

Release

The film premiered at Fantastic Fest in September 2018. It began streaming on Netflix on 12 October 2018.

Critical reception

On review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a rating of 80%, based on 66 reviews, with an average rating of 6.71/10. The site's consensus reads, "Apostle resists easy scares in favor of a steady, slow-building descent into dread led by a commanding central performance from Dan Stevens." Metacritic reports a score of 62 out of 100, based on 17 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews". Variety, echoing other reviews, referred to the film as an homage to The Wicker Man. The Hollywood Reporter stated that "while climactic battles are violent, they never really thrill," concluding that "fans of The Raid should look elsewhere for their thrills." Collider and The A.V. Club gave Apostle more favorable reviews with a B and B minus respectively.