{"id":45055,"date":"2024-09-26T15:25:02","date_gmt":"2024-09-26T19:25:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=45055"},"modified":"2024-09-26T15:25:02","modified_gmt":"2024-09-26T19:25:02","slug":"azrael-2024","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2024\/09\/26\/azrael-2024\/","title":{"rendered":"Azrael (2024)\u00a0"},"content":{"rendered":"

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A young woman living a mute-by-choice society finds herself hunted by a cult who want her for nefarious reasons.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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Written by Simon Barrett and directed by E.L. Katz, Azrael is a tight horror-thriller that doesn\u2019t waste time on the superfluous, doesn\u2019t need words to convey its story, and makes it all about the acting from the lead. The story here sounds similar to that of many other films, a woman in the woods is chased for nefarious reasons, but here it adds the mute angle and a cult with a few surprises that will not be spoiled here. The writing is tight and concise, showing that sometimes the unknown is scarier than what we do know. The direction is on point, taking the script and making it shine on the screen. These two elements being great would be plenty to make this a fantastic movie already but much more works great here.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Working with the great script and solid direction, the cast here is at the top of their game. Lead Samara Weaving is amazing. She makes the most of her part, showing nuanced acting and natural reactions to the happenings around her and to her that work perfectly for her character and the film. She gets to say zero words and makes a huge impact on the story and the film. This is her film, and she knows it. The supporting cast is solid, most of them getting very little screen time, but making the most of what they do get. Shining here are Katariina Unt, Vic Carmen Sonne, and Rea Lest. Another group that needs noted but whose parts won\u2019t be discussed (to avoid spoilers) are Sonia Roszczuk, Valentin Tzin, and Felix Leech who gives solid performances that are purely physical and really add to the film. Their work is central to the story, and they deserve all the props and kudos for being just the right amount of creepy. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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More than worthy of mention here is the special effects team who brought those above mentioned un-discussed parts to the screen so beautifully well. They also handled the general blood effects, wounds, and a special effects beauty at the end of the film. It\u2019s hard to discuss their work without spoiling anything, but let\u2019s just say that they do great work and it\u2019s just the right amount of gross, icky, sticky, gooey. This is how to bring special effects in and make the most of them with just the right amount of gore and the perfect level of creativity. The work here is stunning in a great way in parts of the film and subtle at other times, the perfect balance for a good horror film.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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The cinematography by Mart Taniel is beautifully dark, giving the light a way to become almost a character, to be a source of life. The work here is solid with great lighting and framing leading to great images and easy to watch film. Taniel and team really deliver a great looking film that takes place in a lot of dark places with limited lighting used to best effect. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Azrael is a tight, short film that shows that the darkness can be used to great effect, that not all characters need to speak to communicate with the viewers, and that a great script with a fantastic cast and a talented team of creatives behind it can be turned into a tight horror-thriller. <\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A young woman living a mute-by-choice society finds herself hunted by a cult who want her for nefarious reasons.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12],"tags":[58,477,1087],"class_list":["post-45055","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-movie-reviews","tag-action","tag-horror","tag-thriller"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45055","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45055"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45055\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45056,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45055\/revisions\/45056"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45055"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45055"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45055"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}