The Scare Salon

Writer/producer/director E.L. Katz has been responsible for some really good shit, including the excellent 2013 film Cheap Thrills, one episode of Netflix’s The Haunting of Bly Manor, and probably my favorite season of SyFy’s Channel Zero series, entitled “The Dream Door.” So when I heard that he’d made a sort of post-apocalyptic action horror starring the always wonderful Samara Weaving (The Babysitter, Ready or Not, the first season of Ash vs. Evil Dead), I knew I’d have to get on that as soon as possible.

Azrael premiered at South by Southwest in March of 2024 and got a limited theatrical release this past September before eventually landing on Shudder, where it resides today. Critical reviews were mixed but skewed toward the positive, but I can definitely see why the film is a bit divisive, not least because of its overriding “gimmick” of having almost no spoken dialogue (similar to A Quiet Place in that regard). Because almost no one talks, the viewer is then obliged to pay closer attention to facial expressions, body language, and context clues to figure out exactly what’s going on, which might be tedious for some audiences.

The story is very obviously Biblical in nature, specifying via title card that the events are taking place several years after The Rapture. We first meet Azrael (Samara Weaving) in the woods, making what turns out to be a bracelet with branches and berries. She hears a noise and is obviously frightened; upon investigation, she finds a man sitting against a tree in front of a campfire. She immediately throws her blanket over the fire and stomps it out, and the man looks at her with a WTF expression.

Although from this interaction, you might assume that these two are strangers, it turns out that they’re actually lovers; his name is Kenan (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), though this is only evident from the credits as no one ever says his name. Clearly, his lighting the fire might have drawn attention to them that they didn’t want, hence why Azrael extinguished it. Astute viewers may also notice that both Kenan and Azrael have little cross-shaped scars on their throats.

The pair have a few lovey-dovey moments after Azrael gives Kenan the bracelet, but soon enough, trouble finds them. They hear people in the woods whistling to one another, and start to run; at some point, they get separated, and Azrael gets captured by two dudes with rifles who throw her in the trunk of a shitty old car. Another dude and a woman have captured Kenan, and they force him into another car.

A short time later, Azrael is hoisted out of the trunk and tied to a chair in the middle of a clearing. Kenan is nowhere to be seen, but all four of the kidnappers are there. The woman in the gang (who is never named in the film but is credited as Josephine in the credits and is played by Katarina Unt) slices Azrael’s shin with a razor, and then all the kidnappers retreat to a nearby ridge and very deliberately turn their backs on their victim, making strange, synchronized huffing sounds.

It’s very plain that these people, whoever they are, have left Azrael out there as a sacrifice to someone or something, and indeed, after a few moments, a monstrous-looking thing comes snuffling out of the trees, looking like a naked man who has been barbecued from head to toe. Apparently, this thing can smell blood, hence the cut on the leg, and the viewer can further assume that the people who put Azrael there are in some kind of cult and are giving her as an offering to this creature.

Long story short, Azrael is able to escape, feeding one of the kidnappers to the creature as a bonus, and hightails it into the woods. After cleaning her wound and narrowly escaping another one of the monsters (which are called the Burned Ones in the movie’s lore, though again not named as such in the film), she finds her way back to the kidnappers’ sprawling encampment, presumably to find out what happened to Kenan.

If you’re paying close attention, you’ll eventually figure out that Azrael and Kenan used to be part of this group, but fled at some point in the very recent past. This cult believes that speech is a sin, and they have therefore all had their vocal cords removed (which explains the scars on Azrael and Kenan’s necks). They also all follow the wordless pronouncements of a mysterious pregnant woman in a white gown called Miriam (Victoria Carmen Sonne), who appears to be interpreting “messages” caused by the sound of the wind blowing through a large crack in the wall of the ramshackle wooden church in the center of the camp.

The rest of the film, then, plays out as a sort of violent cat-and-mouse game between Azrael and the cult members, as she attempts to find Kenan and/or becomes intent on destroying everyone in the cult. The religious inferences are key here to understanding what’s going on, as Azrael (in both Islam and the apocryphal Apocalypse of Peter) is akin to the Angel of Death, and there’s also a significant reference to the birth of the Antichrist. I hesitate to call this an allegory, as it’s actually pretty straightforward and not that symbolic, but if you’re not at least passingly familiar with some of these allusions, some of the stuff that happens, especially toward the end, might be a tad baffling.

One thing I found very interesting about the film, and something that elegantly suggested a larger world beyond the scope of the story, is that at one point while Azrael is fleeing for her life, she is almost run over by a man driving an SUV on a dirt road through the woods. This man seems kind and allows her to get into the vehicle because she’s obviously frightened. This is also the only character in the movie who talks, though he speaks in a foreign language I didn’t recognize (possibly Estonian, since that’s where the film was shot). He also has what looks to be a working GPS in his truck, and plays rock music on the stereo, so it’s clear that the world is still at least relatively normal beyond the boundaries of this weird cult’s territory. Maybe I’m reading too much into that, but I just thought it was an intriguing, if brief, digression that hinted at larger things.

Overall, I found this movie pretty riveting; it’s not long (only about 86 minutes and that includes the lengthy credits), so it doesn’t wear out its welcome. The mystery of what was going on kept me interested, and even though Samara Weaving doesn’t say a word, she’s still fantastic to watch, and you’re rooting for her the whole way through, even as she starts to go full-on avenging angel toward the end and does some maybe kinda questionable shit. I will admit that this isn’t the kind of movie you can put on and do something else at the same time; not only because no one says anything, but also because you have to keep an eye out for details that let you know what’s happening in the story.

There’s plenty of bloody violence too, with a couple of beheadings, people being torn apart and eaten by the Burned Ones, and so forth, so if you like gore, there’s a good amount of it here. Although I can’t say I loved the film as much as some other ones I’ve seen this year, it was still a solid entry into the post-apocalyptic horror subgenre that explored an interesting religious angle that you don’t see all that much. The lack of dialogue might bother some people, but I didn’t mind, so if this all sounds like something you’d enjoy, then toddle on over to Shudder and check it out.

Until next time, keep it creepy, my friends.