Azrael (2024) Horror Movie Review

By Seth Metoyer, MoreHorrorMovies.com -

The sky has cracked, the faithful are gone, and what’s left is worse than hell. Azrael  drops you into a post-Rapture nightmare and shoves you face-first into the dirt, then dares you to get up. Samara Weaving, one of horror’s most magnetic faces, takes center stage in a film that’s equal parts biblical fever dream and survival gauntlet.

After the Rapture strips the world of its believers, the survivors cling to strange, brutal new rules. In one forest-bound cult, speaking has been outlawed, the act itself now considered a sin. Azrael (Samara Weaving) and her lover, Kenan, are exiled from this silent society and quickly find themselves hunted. Captured by zealots, she’s marked for sacrifice to the Burned Ones. Grotesque, charred creatures that stalk the land, drawn by scent and driven by hunger. Her escape becomes a desperate trek through a wasteland of fanatics, monsters, and a theology warped beyond recognition. The path leads back to the cult, to a pregnant leader, and to a final, disturbing revelation that closes the circle in blood.

Samara Weaving is the kind of actor who can hold your gaze without a single word. In Azrael, she’s a force of pure physical storytelling. Every look, every movement, feels loaded with tension. She’s utterly convincing as a woman clawing for survival in a world where speaking could get you killed. I’ve said it before, she deserves more big studio work, but she owns the horror space in a way few can match.

The film’s hook is smart: take the Rapture, strip it of its usual sanitized depictions, and make it frightening again. Historically, the idea of a Rapture isn’t even ancient theology, it’s a modern invention, barely a century old. Here, it’s reimagined as a catalyst for fanaticism and terror. The silence rule is especially chilling, turning human interaction into something dangerous. It reminded me of A Quiet Place, but with a sharper edge since the real threat isn’t only the creatures, it’s the people enforcing the law.

The Burned Ones are nightmare fuel. Their design is brutal and specific, like they’ve crawled out of both fire and plague. They’re fast, vicious, and carry a strange, tragic menace. It’s the kind of practical and visual work horror fans live for.

Where Azrael falters is in the depth of its world-building. The concept is there, but the details often feel brushed over. The result is a film that runs on mood and tension more than layered storytelling. Sometimes that works, silence and ambiguity can draw you in, but there are moments where you wish for more answers. That sparseness does make the whole thing feel like a fever dream you’ve been dropped into mid-scene.

At its core, this is stripped-down survival horror. Azrael runs, hides, fights, bleeds, and endures. The film lives and dies on her presence, and fortunately, Weaving carries it with a performance that sticks.

Azrael won’t change the genre, but it’s a nasty, atmospheric ride worth taking. It blends religious dread, post-apocalyptic grit, and creature-feature chaos into something that sticks in your head after the credits roll. It’s Samara Weaving’s show from start to finish, and she makes every silent beat count. Not flawless, but when the Burned Ones are on the hunt and the screen is dripping with menace, it hits the spot.

If you like your horror bloody, strange, and just a little blasphemous, Azrael will scratch that itch without ever raising its voice.