Frightfest 2024: ‘Azrael: Angel of Death’ Review

Stars: Samara Weaving, Vic Carmen Sonne, Katariina Unt, Nathan Stewart-Jarrett | Written by Simon Barrett Simon Barrett | Directed by E. L. Katz

Across its 25 year history, FrightFest has been a film festival that has championed showing underseen classics and highlighting exciting new voices in cinema. They are also fond of screening new works by returning filmmakers, many of whom came up with the festival, which effectively allows an audience to get hyped for new instalments from reliable creatives. Azrael: Angel of Death is a collaboration from two such filmmakers; director E. L. Katz (Cheap Thrills, ABCs of Death 2), and screenwriter Simon Barrett (A Horrible Way to Die, You’re Next, The Guest). To quote Mr. Peanutbutter, “What is this, a crossover episode?”

Set many years after the apocalypse, a devout cult of mute zealots hunt down Azrael (Samara Weaving), a young woman who escaped her imprisonment. Upon being recaptured, it becomes clear that Azrael is intended as a sacrifice to pacify an ancient evil lurking within the surrounding wilderness. Stopping at nothing to ensure her survival, the young woman fights savagely against the overwhelming forces.

Crafting a vicious revenge story free of dialogue, Katz and Barrett have delivered a bloody great time (emphasis on bloody). Danger is felt across this post-apocalyptic landscape as an overwhelming force, ready to potentially appear from anywhere at any time. A crunching ordeal is delivered of grisly survival amidst brutal horrors, with such terrors needing to be endured to live within this warped world. There are also undertones regarding religious fanaticism and mistakenly praising false idols, which are all delivered to engrossing effect.

Anchoring this whole feature is Samara Weaving, delivering a charismatic performance which is stunningly expressive throughout the 85-minute runtime. Once more covered in blood and full of righteous fury, she never falters on-screen as the hunted who has been reborn into a bloodthirsty hunter, intent on payback against those responsible for taking away her voice.

While the plot unfolds without dialogue, there are admittedly some hanging threads which feel in need of explaining. It is worth mentioning that, in the introduction to this film, a message from Katz highlighted that all he wanted to say about this feature could be found within the runtime. This seems like a good sign for rewatching this film, to uncover new layers and provide answers which may have been missed the first time as the plot unfolded. Regardless of how many times you view it, Azrael: Angel of Death remains a kick-ass piece of stylish genre filmmaking.

**** 4/5

Azrael: Angel of Death screened as part of this year’s Frightfest London.