I didn't have a whole lot of expectations when I took a trip to the theater this evening to see Nefarious this evening. I'm not big into the 'horror' genre but after seeing some positive recommendations and that there was no graphic violence or other lewd turnoffs, and that it was a compelling and accurate portrayal of demonic possession I figured to give it a go.
I am a bit of a film snob, though, which can make it hard to enjoy a movie sometimes. The first thing I'll say is that I give the producers (who are apparently devout Catholics from what I heard) an A for effort. The general plot is that a man is being sentenced to death for murder, but claims he is a demon taking up residence in the man's body. A young atheist psychiatrist is called in to determine whether or not the prisoner is insane and thus not able to be executed under state law. The inmate is in fact clearly possessed, and what ensues over the next hour and a half is less psychological and more of a 'spiritual thriller.' Or at least it attempts to be. I wouldn’t classify it as a horror film.
The film largely rests on monologues and sparse scenery from inside the prison. It's clear it's not a high-budget film, but I'm okay with making do with less. The acting, apart from the inmate himself (which was well acted) clearly reflects that. I like subtlety and appreciate when themes can be teased out and make you think and question. Nefarious doesn't do that; it feels more like a pre-packaged MRE. If I was an unsuspecting non-believer going into it, I may be inclined to feel a little cheated from a bait and switch, the way you might hide aspirin in applesauce for your kids.
The theology and demonology is for the part solidly orthodox. But I couldn't help feeling like this is the Catholic version of God's Not Dead meets Screwtape Letters with less rah-rah but the same forced feeding of the message rather than having it teased out. If Taylor Marshall and Kennedy Hall switched from TradTube to making a movie together, this would be it.
Some people like being spoon-fed though, and have no preference for subtlety, and I won't fault them for that. If that's you, you may enjoy the movie because it gives a clear takeaway with minimal questioning; it tells you what to think rather than makes you think, but maybe that’s my perspective as a well-informed Catholic—it might have a positive opposite affect for a non believer or Protestant. I had a "ah, I see what you did there" moment when the possessed tells the psychiatrist ominously "before you leave here you will have committed three murders" and then brings up the fact that the psychiatrist euthanized his mother and encouraged his girlfriend to get an abortion. Kind of clever, but the moralizing was blatant. Which again, some people like--what you see is what you get. Maybe the idea is a kind of guerrilla-evangelizing and riding the wave of the exorcist-theme popularity we see going around online today. I did like when they brought the liberal priest in and showed how impotent post-modern theology is against the demonic.
I wouldn't dissuade people from going to see Nefarious, but like I said, I just have different standards by which I judge a film, and it takes a lot of box checking for me to be satisfied with a movie--Nefarious didn't do it for me, personally, but it might for you. Curiously, I did find myself praying to my guardian angel on the drive home, something I don't do enough of. Evil exists, the Devil is real, and we need to be wearing the amour of God by remaining in a state of grace and belief.
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