I tend to avoid religious movies. I did my time when I went to Catholic school for nine years before I went to high school. It was hell. The last thing I want is some movie telling me what to believe, and that if I don’t, then I’m a bad person. The idea of religious horror, however, has always fascinated me. I love the Conjuring movies even though I know the Warrens we’re scam artists who preyed on people’s beliefs in their time of need. I love The Exorcist even though the movie does nothing to convince me that the devil and God are real, but it made me believe that priest could defeat the devil by shouting about the power of Christ. Maybe just due to my upbringing, and my natural love of horror, I’ve always found the intermingling of my genre and the religion I chose to give up to be this kind of forbidden fruit.
The Evangelist is about a serial killer who chooses to kill people for what he believes are moral reasons based on what he learned from the Bible. After killing two people close to him, he decides to seek out help from a therapist he hears on the radio. All the while, a gristled detective, close to retirement, with a mysterious link to a similar case from twenty years ago is partnered up with a rookie who’s determined to bring down this supposed copycat.
That’s sort of it for the plot. The movie keeps things nice and simple. It definitely works for the movie. At just around 75 minutes with credits, The Evangelist (formerly titled Clean Cut, I like the new title better personally), is a breeze to watch. Plus, for a low budget, straight to DVD horror affair, it’s pretty good.
The acting, the score, and the film’s pacing are all above average for this type of movie. It was kind of refreshing to see something that doesn’t offer a ton of gore or deaths just deliver on a pure entertainment level. Let’s break it down. Keith Collins who plays our lead villain, The Evangelist, does a great job being both creepy and sympathetic. He’s just very watchable. I really never knew what he was going to do next, and that’s how I want my movie’s villains to be. Samantha Atrese also does a great job playing the instantly likable, but probably not super qualified since she has to advertise on the radio, therapist. She’s another magnetic actor in the film. Major props to Doug Bollinger who plays the hardened detective investigating the Evangelist murders. He has to spout off constant pop culture cop TV show and movie references to his too young to understand rookie partner throughout the entire film. With any other low budget actor, this would have been super annoying. Here, it was charming.
Like I mentioned before, the score, featuring music done by Guns and Roses guitarist Ron “Bumblefoot” Thal, keeps things moving along nicely. Director Joseph Pepitone knows to keep the story simple as well. There’s nothing too visually impressive on display here, but it doesn’t look bad for a low budget horror film. The twists and turns in the film’s final minutes were totally predicable, but I didn’t care. I’m glad they happened the way they did. I wouldn’t have it any other way. The film also has a total fuck you ending that the anarchist in me couldn’t help but enjoy.
What doesn’t work here? While the simple plot keeps things moving along nicely, it doesn’t really bring anything new to the table. If you’ve seen one serial killer horror film, you know what’s going on here. I would have liked to have seen the Evangelist or the Bible Killer at work a bit more in the film. I didn’t care that the film wasn’t particularly gory and didn’t have a high body count. I would have just liked to have seen more of went into some of the murderer’s killings.
I could have used a little bit less of the witty banter between all the detectives. There’s one detective in the film that gives the old detective his new rookie partner that is pretty unwatchably bad in his scenes. There’s also an undeveloped story about their coke addicted captain that I’m not really sure it was even in there.
Overall, though, I was pleasantly surprised by this little film. I think you would be too. This one makes for a great Sunday afternoon watch when you want to pass an hour and fifteen minutes. I enjoyed the film’s use of religion as a tool for villainy, and I liked that it didn’t save anyone in the end. The film aimed to take a dark swipe at religion and I think it succeeded on all accounts. That’s a pretty ballsy move for a low budget horror flick that got picked up for distribution through Sony Entertainment and eOne.
3/5
Check out the trailer here:
The Evangelist is available on DVD on May 9th from Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and eOne Entertainment
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