This 'Apostle' Trailer Has Cults, Revenge, And Head-Drilling

Over the next few weeks, Netflix will release two of my most-anticipated movies of 2018, movies I’ve been frothing at the mouth for since I first heard they exist. They drop Jeremy Saulnier’s Hold the Dark this month, and in October, they release Apostle, the latest film from The Raid mastermind Gareth Evans. That doesn’t hit until October, but as if Evans’ very involvement doesn’t land this at the top of your must-watch list, this first trailer should do the trick.

Sure, maybe this won’t have the high-flying martial arts action we usually associate with a Gareth Evans movie, but damn, this Apostle trailer looks brutal. Seriously, in two-minutes we see torture, executions, nasty looking fights, more torture, and did I mention brain-drilling? I expected a vicious mean streak, but this looks like a whole other level of religious-themed violence. And that sparse, tingling score feels like someone playing your spinal cord. Hallelujah.

The logline is relatively simple: “a man travels to a remote island in search of his missing sister, who was kidnapped by a murderous religious cult.” But the story appears to be anything but simple for Thomas Richardson (Dan Stevens, The Guest) when he goes up against the cadre of zealots lead by a crazed Michael Sheen to save his sister (Lucy Boynton, Sing Street), who is being held for ransom. We are in for a dark, grim time. Maybe I should back-to-back this with Mandy. No, I should definitely back-to-back this with Mandy.

From all appearances, Apostle is a marked departure from The Raid movies for Evans. We get glimpses of action in this trailer, but not a ton, and there’s more of a focus on tension and digging into the darkness of the sect. Can’t wait to watch him delve into the creases of human depravity.

Apostle debuts at Fantastic Fest, which kicks off in Austin later this week, and it hits Netflix on October 6. I know I’m easy—all it takes is a vengeance-fueled cult story and I’m in—but this is very much my shit. Especially with lines like, “Your god can’t help you.”