Azrael

A minimalist post-apocalyptic horror film, reduced to the primary emotions of the main characters, the atmosphere of Estonian forests and wordless visual storytelling. An uninterrupted 85-minute adrenaline ride, which stands purely on precisely constructed and rhythmic action scenes, full of constant twists and turns that manage to keep the audience in permanent suspense, and on the non-verbal acting of Samara Weaving, who has become perhaps the best silent scream queen in the history of cinema. Anyone who has seen The Babysitter and Ready or Not knows that Weaving is one of the most kickass horror actresses out there. The film couldn't have done without her immense energy and ability to convey emotion through facial expressions, body language and muffled screams. It doesn't hold a candle to the action-packed post-apocalyptic masterpieces of Mad Max: Fury Road and Furiosa, or the wordless struggle for survival in the animated series Primal, but as a small, unassuming film, it's a pleasant surprise. Some viewers may be put off by the fact that the script doesn't bother to explain the realities of the fictional world, providing only minor clues to fill in any gaps in their imaginations, but I didn't have a problem with that. (07/10/2024)

A pure genre pleasure. Don't look for a story as such, the answers to questions like "who? what? why?" are obscured. The likeable protagonist (the already proven scream queen Samara Weaving) is simply dealing with some post-apocalyptic cult and humanoid monsters. It's one big, 80-minute horror ride, with some really rich, perfectly crafted genre sequences superimposed on a largely banal running around in the woods. I enjoyed it beyond expectations. (06/10/2024)