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Fantastic Fest 2018: ‘Apostle’ Is Filled With Evil, Corruption and Razor-Sharp Folk Horror

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Apostle

Lovecraftian sensibilities converge in the hellish ride that is Director, Gareth Evans latest offering, Apostle.

This film checks each and everyone of Fantastic Fest’s boxes in terms of genre greatness. Apostle offers up a healthy helping of dread, packed into a period piece that echoes of the best of 70s horror. Particularly the kind of 70s horror that dealt with evil cults and otherworldly worship.

Apostle finds Thomas Richardson (Dan Stevens) sent on a mission to find and save his sister from the clutches of a enigmatic cult. The cult prides themselves on equality among all of its members by sharing everything and by allowing repentant criminals seeking redemption into its ranks. But, with corruption at an arms reach, and evil forces in the woods, the amiable face of the mysterious cult may not be the paradise its followers signed up for.

Director, Gareth Evans helmed martial arts badass fests The Raid 1 & 2, and switches to an entirely new genre in the field of supernatural, mystic horror with Apostle. The result proves that this dude, can just about do anything and make it look and feel great.

What Evans does particularly-well is bring over his experience with big action sequences and contains them into tiny pockets of intensely gory set pieces. These sequences are peppered in over the films runtime and are each more viscerally-potent and bone rattling than the last. In other words, when shit goes down, shit really goes down.

Apostle, is a period piece and uses the tongue and fortitude of the time, to tell the perplexing mystery that comes undone in layers throughout. Paranoia and evil run rampant as Richardson tries to conceal his identity and intentions among the cult and its forefathers. The result is a strange, thickly layered tension that methodically eats away at the audience.

The film does a great job of exploring corruption within bodies of power and ultimately religion. The deconstruction of higher powers who use their will as a tool that leads to ultimate corruption is at play throughout. The whole thing makes it a hoot to look at our current state of the political and the religious where possible good intent can and will sour.

The score by Fajar Yuskemal and Aria Pryogi is just as rattling as Evans intensely well-capture big gore moments. Strings cut through the tension while also creating a melting pot of east, west and everything in between to showcase the variety of folks who have come to call this cult home.

Evans and his team sure as hell know how to kill folks in creative ways and follows the cine-testament of “the worst the person is the harder they have to die.” Apostle constantly doubles-down on its next explosive gore scene by coming up with devilish ways to lay waste to anyone who stands in the way.

Stevens who we genre fans know from The Guest and Legion is in it to win it here. His straight-laced and laudanum-addicted character has room to play, in his near madness. Stevens takes full advantage of this by steering hard into the period piece with a large performance that matches the carnage going on around him.

There is a lot more I want to go into about the more supernatural of the elements at work here, and how that extends deeply into certain brilliant takes on mythology. But its really something that is best experienced rather than discussed here.

Apostle is a ferocious, Lovecraftian experience that pushes the envelope in perilous directions. It’s cast and crew went to work in a scattered evil, gothic folk tale that will leave you with your jaw on the floor in all the genre film loving, best possible ways.

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Editorial

Yay or Nay: What’s Good and Bad in Horror This Week

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Horror Movies

Welcome to Yay or Nay a weekly mini post about what I think is good and bad news in the horror community written in bite-sized chunks. 

Yay:

Mike Flanagan talking about directing the next chapter in the Exorcist trilogy. That might mean he saw the last one and realized there were two left and if he does anything well it’s draw out a story. 

Yay:

To the announcement of a new IP-based film Mickey Vs Winnie. It’s fun to read comical hot takes from people who haven’t even seen the movie yet.

Nay:

The new Faces of Death reboot gets an R rating. It’s not really fair — Gen-Z should get an unrated version like past generations so they can question their mortality the same as the rest of us did. 

Yay:

Russell Crowe is doing another possession movie. He’s quickly becoming another Nic Cage by saying yes to every script, bringing the magic back to B-movies, and more money into VOD. 

Nay:

Putting The Crow back in theaters for its 30th anniversary. Re-releasing classic movies at the cinema to celebrate a milestone is perfectly fine, but doing so when the lead actor in that film was killed on set due to neglect is a cash grab of the worst kind. 

The Crow
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Lists

The Top-Searched Free Horror/Action Movies on Tubi This Week

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The free streaming service Tubi is a great place to scroll when you’re unsure what to watch. They are not sponsored or affiliated with iHorror. Still, we really appreciate their library because it’s so robust and has many obscure horror movies so rare you can’t find them anywhere in the wild except, if you’re lucky, in a moist cardboard box at a yard sale. Other than Tubi, where else are you going to find Nightwish (1990), Spookies (1986), or The Power (1984)?

We take a look at the most searched horror titles on the platform this week, hopefully, to save you some time in your endeavor to find something free to watch on Tubi.

Interestingly at the top of the list is one of the most polarizing sequels ever made, the female-led Ghostbusters reboot from 2016. Perhaps viewers have seen the latest sequel Frozen Empire and are curious about this franchise anomaly. They will be happy to know it’s not as bad as some think and is genuinely funny in spots.

So take a look at the list below and tell us if you are interested in any of them this weekend.

1. Ghostbusters (2016)

Ghostbusters (2016)

An otherworldly invasion of New York City assembles a pair of proton-packed paranormal enthusiasts, a nuclear engineer and a subway worker for battle.An otherworldly invasion of New York City assembles a pair of proton-packed paranormal enthusiasts, a nuclear engineer and a subway worker for battle.

2. Rampage

When a group of animals becomes vicious after a genetic experiment goes awry, a primatologist must find an antidote to avert a global catastrophe.

3. The Conjuring The Devil Made Me Do It

Paranormal investigators Ed and Lorraine Warren uncover an occult conspiracy as they help a defendant argue that a demon forced him to commit murder.

4. Terrifier 2

After being resurrected by a sinister entity, Art the Clown returns to Miles County, where his next victims, a teenage girl and her brother, await.

5. Don’t Breathe

A group of teens breaks into a blind man’s home, thinking they’ll get away with the perfect crime but get more than they bargained for once inside.

6. The Conjuring 2

In one of their most terrifying paranormal investigations, Lorraine and Ed Warren help a single mother of four in a house plagued by sinister spirits.

7. Child’s Play (1988)

A dying serial killer uses voodoo to transfer his soul into a Chucky doll which winds up in the hands of a boy who may be the doll’s next victim.

8. Jeepers Creepers 2

When their bus breaks down on a deserted road, a team of high school athletes discovers an opponent they cannot defeat and may not survive.

9. Jeepers Creepers

After making a horrific discovery in the basement of an old church, a pair of siblings find themselves the chosen prey of an indestructible force.

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Morticia & Wednesday Addams Join Monster High Skullector Series

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Believe it or not, Mattel’s Monster High doll brand has an immense following with both young and not-so-young collectors. 

In that same vein, the fan base for The Addams Family is also very large. Now, the two are collaborating to create a line of collectible dolls that celebrate both worlds and what they have created is a combination of fashion dolls and goth fantasy. Forget Barbie, these ladies know who they are.

The dolls are based on Morticia and Wednesday Addams from the 2019 Addams Family animated movie. 

As with any niche collectibles these aren’t cheap they bring with them a $90 price tag, but it’s an investment as a lot of these toys become more valuable over time. 

“There goes the neighborhood. Meet the Addams Family’s ghoulishly glamorous mother-daughter duo with a Monster High twist. Inspired by the animated movie and clad in spiderweb lace and skull prints, the Morticia and Wednesday Addams Skullector doll two-pack makes for a gift that’s so macabre, it’s downright pathological.”

If you want to pre-purchase this set check out The Monster High website.

Wednesday Addams Skullector doll
Wednesday Addams Skullector doll
Footwear for Wednesday Addams Skullector doll
Morticia Addams Skullector doll
Morticia Addams doll shoes
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