Azrael: Angel of Death

Taking their cue from the more religiously grounded Rapture, than a plain old apocalypse, writer Simon Barrett and director E.L. Katz have made the film’s actors piously mute, speech now considered a sin post Rapture.

The film opens with Azrael (Samara Weaving) and her partner (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett) being chased by what turn out to be a very devout community. They are captured and led to a clearing where they are to be sacrificed. This done by cutting a victim’s leg, the bleeding then attracting the charred demons that inhabit the forest. Its bloody and messy and sign of things to come.

Azrael manages to escape from her hunters (twice), only to be recaptured and the second time is buried alive from which she does escape in a rather curious way.

However there is more to Azrael as she has a curious relationship with a pregnant woman that the community revere and are bound to protect. Nevertheless she is out now out for vengeance, and nothing is getting in her way.

For all the crosses, demons, mutism, and religious allusions (Azrael is the Angel of Death) Azrael probably works best of all as very brutal vengeance picture. Here Katz is sure-footed with some excellent direction and set pieces to go with the copious blood letting as Azrael wreaks havoc in the settlement.

With no speech sound is everything and the design is very good. The sets are curious too in that there’s a very medieval texture to the whole thing which is somewhat broken up by the clapped-out cars and heavy-duty hand weapons that the community has at its disposal.

The ending suggests something more profound is going on in the wake of the mayhem unleashed by Azrael. But the film works perfectly well as a gruesome horror without having to ponder the more existential elements.

Azrael had its UK premiere at London Pigeon Shrine FrightFest, 25 August 2024, and will be available on digital from 30 September and DVD and Blu-ray 7 October.