The cult thriller is back in style! The first trailer has arrived for Apostle, the new film from writer and director Gareth Evans. The Welsh director made a name for himself with the staggeringly visceral action film The Raid and its ambitious sequel, The Raid 2, both of which feature delirious fight sequences and fiendish violence. Here, Evans seems to retain his flair for the outré, fashioning a ’70s style thriller in the vein of The Wicker Man (with some bits of Resident Evil 4 thrown in) while still maintaining his gnarly action trappings. One thing is for sure, there is some imagery in here that is quite imaginative and very ghoulish.
Apostle follows a man (The Guest and Legion star Dan Stevens) who travels to a mysterious island home to a very intense and very murdery cult (lead by Michael Sheen) in search of his sister. While the trailer promises a tense and wicked film, perhaps even a slow burn, Stevens stated in an interview with Flickering Myth that the signature Evans action is still to come: “I can tell you that there is a bit of action in there. It’s not as relentlessly action packed as The Raid 3 might be [but] nobody sells violence right like now right him, he’s very, very gifted like that.”
Check out the trailer and first poster below, as well as a sneak peak at an Empire Magazine spread from Evans’ instagram here. Stay tuned for more as we all near the island.
London, 1905. Prodigal son Thomas Richardson (Dan Stevens) has returned home, only to learn that his sister is being held for ransom by a religious cult. Determined to get her back at any cost, Thomas travels to the idyllic island where the cult lives under the leadership of the charismatic Prophet Malcolm (Michael Sheen). As Thomas infiltrates the island’s community, he learns that the corruption of mainland society that they claim to reject has infested the cult’s ranks nonetheless – and uncovers a secret far more evil than he could have imagined. Written and directed by Gareth Evans (THE RAID), APOSTLE is a harrowing occult fable where the only thing more horrifying than madness is the sinister reality behind it.
Apostle hits Netflix on October 12th.