A Nefarious Review
A spoiler-free reaction to an important film
Yes, Christians should make horror films
“Nefarious” is both good and timely
I can’t tell you whether to watch it, but I have some points to consider when making that determination for yourself
It’s a great film, though it falters on the dismount
This is Christian propaganda, and I’m all for it
On the day he’s slated for execution, a serial killer claiming to be a demon undergoes a psychiatric evaluation to determine whether he’s mentally fit to receive his sentence.
— Plot synopsis for the film “Nefarious”
Nefarious: True horror
If you think that Christians shouldn’t make horror films, I respectfully submit that you are wrong. There is no imaginary horror conceived by man that approaches the reality of the demonic realm and eternal Hell. Jesus Himself spoke more about Hell than Heaven, and for good reason — people must be warned.
The problem with horror films, however, is that they typically capitalize on evil rather than warn about it. Hollywood is always ready to make a quick buck off of those willing to exchange money for fear, provided that fear takes place in a controlled environment on a limited basis and with no lasting consequences. But that kind of fear is just a cheap thrill, not real horror. From a human perspective, real horror isn’t controlled, it doesn’t end after 90 minutes, and its consequences could not be more severe. Someone needs to say so, and not just from the pulpit.
Now, if you think that Christians can’t make horror films, meaning that they can’t make good horror films (or indeed good films of any kind), I’m empathetic to your perspective. The Christian film industry, such as it is, has long been a joke, even within Christian circles. Far too often, its productions have been not just artificially sterile and abysmally formulaic, they’ve made a mockery of Jesus by reducing Him to a wish-granting genie concerned more with MacGuffins than human souls.
A film for the times
I’m glad to report that this trend is changing. It turns out that Christians can make good movies — even good horror movies. But “Nefarious” isn’t just good, it’s also timely in that it acknowledges what so many (supposedly) Conservative outlets will not — that the war we’re in is fundamentally spiritual, not political. God told us as much roughly 2,000 years ago, so it’s nice to see that someone has finally caught on:
For we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.
Politics is merely a symptom of the human condition, not the condition itself. As such, applying political remedies to a spiritual disease is like using a Band-Aid to treat cancer. Our symptoms need to be dealt with, of course, but to focus on them at the expense of the disease is suicidal. I won’t get into the specifics of “Nefarious” for fear of spoiling the story, but suffice it to say that its creators are well aware of the malignancy overtaking our culture, and their film addresses it head-on.
Should you see it?
Like “Unplanned” before it, “Nefarious” was rated R specifically to harm its box-office returns. It was a punishment for circumventing the studio system and for creating a product founded on a Christian worldview. Nothing in this film comes remotely close to warranting such a rating — there’s no gore, no sexual content, and (at most) three instances of the mildest of profanity.
But I know many Christians have an understandable hangup about R-rated films. I can’t tell you whether to see “Nefarious” — that’s a matter for your own conscience — but here are some points to consider when making your decision:
Avoiding R-rated films is a good guideline, but a poor rule. Ratings are handed out by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), which means that if we rely on ratings to determine what we watch, we’re allowing Hollywood to make our viewing decisions for us.
I’d wager that we’re likely to see an increase in unjustified R ratings in the same way that we’re seeing an increase in unjustified use of the words “misinformation” and “disinformation.” The purpose in both cases is censorship — to keep people from being exposed to “unapproved” ideas.Because the film has an R rating, the trailers played in front of it are also R-rated. If you watch “Nefarious” in the theater, you will likely see trailers making prodigious use of the vilest profanity, blasphemy, extreme violence, and uncensored gore. Maybe this is normal now (before this I’d not been to the theater in several years), but I couldn’t believe what I was seeing. Thus, it’s my recommendation that you go with a group and assign one person to monitor the trailers while everyone else waits just outside the theater. Once the movie begins, the monitor can text the group to let them know the coast is clear.
Or just wait for the Blu-Ray.If “Nefarious” does well, it will encourage further production of high-quality Christian films.
This film is not for everyone. Despite conveying a biblical worldview, it’s still a horror. It’s dark, gritty, and very intense. I wouldn’t want any women or children in my family watching it, even if the trailers weren’t an issue.
Overall impressions
“Nefarious” is good. Very good. It has its flaws, of course, but over all, it’s very well done.
The lead actors play their parts expertly, and in Sean Patrick Flanery’s case, disturbingly so. Technically, it’s solid outside of a few lines of dialogue that should have been rerecorded for clarity.
The pacing is excellent, which is critical when most of your film consists of a conversation between two men in a dark, drab prison commissary1. Despite the largely static setting, though, the film's intensity and subject matter held my interest right up until the final scene (more on that in a moment).
The story conveys the Christian worldview in unmistakable, though not ham-handed, fashion. But it also abides by the first rule of show business: always leave the audience wanting more. In this regard, it excels. The events (both spiritual and criminal) leading up to those depicted in “Nefarious” would make for one or more fascinating supernatural crime thrillers. I’m not sure I’d advise that course of action as it would be easy to fall into the usual Hollywood trap of glorifying evil, but if handled carefully, there’s more than enough fodder for a prequel.
The one false step the film takes is its epilogue. And it’s a big false step. It’s so bad, in fact, that it nearly squanders all of the goodwill built up in the prior eighty or so minutes. Every bit of precisely metered pacing and smart, intense dialogue we’d seen beforehand slowly sinks into a quagmire of (what I presume to be) contractual obligation.
A terrible and arguably unwise cameo culminates in, of all things, an advertisement; and this is not rescued by the final scene, which scores a 100 for cringe-worthy predictability. I don’t know what happened here, but the entire epilogue felt like an afterthought, if it was a thought at all. It was a truly disappointing way to end an otherwise excellent film.
But despite this one misstep, “Nefarious” remains not just a great bit of filmmaking, but an important one. There are many memorable moments, but one scene in particular will stay with me for the rest of my life. In one sense, I wish it wouldn’t; I wish I could forget it. Not because it was gory or vulgar but because it laid completely bare an evil our society has worked so hard to conceal beneath a mountain of noble-sounding euphemisms. But while I don’t recall the scene with any sense of pleasure, I’m still grateful for it because uncomfortable truths, like the one it exposes, may be this generation’s greatest need.
We need more films like this. Not horror films per se but true films — ones that reflect the universe as it is, not as it exists in the minds of those deluded by spiritual darkness. “Nefarious” is Christian propaganda2, and I’m all for more of it. We’re in a war, and thus far our enemy has greatly outpaced us in circulating his principles. It’s time we did the same.
This lends itself particularly well to a stage adaptation
We often regard propaganda as inherently deceitful, but this isn’t necessarily the case. Propaganda is simply material intended to propagate certain principles or goals.