SXSW 2024: Oddity, Azrael, Kryptic | Festivals & Awards

E.L. Katz made waves a decade ago at SXSW with the twisted “Cheap Thrills,” a film I genuinely liked (and one of my first RogerEbert.com reviews, for the record), so I was excited to see him team up with the underrated Samara Weaving on “Azrael,” a film that promised a bloody, post-apocalyptic thrill ride. Sadly, this one is a broad misfire for Katz and Weaving, a film that joins a weird little subgenre of dialogue-less films of late, a sort-of-horror-sister to John Woo’s “Silent Night.” The problem is that when a film eschews all dialogue, it needs to compensate with strong visual language and narrative momentum—this movie has neither.

Set years after the Rapture—yes, that one—speaking has been deemed a sin in this future world with no supplies and dwindling humanity. Azrael (Weaving) wanders the woods with a partner (Nathan Stewart-Jarrett), and, although we get no dialogue, they’re clearly living in fear and hiding. Before long, they’re caught by a group of roving marauders, and Azrael is strapped to a chair. A ceremony begins and what appear to be almost demons emerge from behind the trees, ready to chew on human flesh. Azrael escapes but fate keeps bringing her back to the marauder camp, which anyone who has ever seen a movie knows she will eventually topple.

A film like “Azrael” needs thematic density to break through the lack of dialogue, and writer Simon Barrett probably knows his project well enough to think that’s there, but it’s not well-conveyed to audiences. Instead, “Azrael” becomes a flat genre exercise, a series of poorly-staged combat sequences and some truly creepy creatures that look kind of look severely burned humanoids. Weaving is consistently giving “Azrael” her all—there’s just nothing giving back in return.

Director Kourtney Roy promised “rivers of mucus” before the premiere of her “Kryptic,” and that’s truly about all this experimental misfire has to offer. Again, the writer, Paul Bromley in this case, probably thinks there’s a lot going on here in this twisted tale of a cryptozoologist in search of a monster and herself, but nothing of substance comes through to the audience. I don’t mind a film that traffics in striking visuals instead of direct narratives, but “Kryptic” isn’t confident enough for either. It’s like a student film—full of ideas but none of them are how to tie a film together.

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