Spoilers need an old priest and a young priest.

I love thriller premises that play with ambiguity between normal and supernatural. Unfortunately, very often these films rarely stay impartial throughout. There’s always a suspicion or coincidence that ends up compromising the truth for the sake of spectacle. Books often manage to maintain the balance, but movies are visual so supernatural horror will always rear its demonic head. Let’s see where this film lands.

(Credit: Soli Deo Gloria Releasing)

Nefarious (2023) is written and directed by Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon, based on the novel by Steve Deace. Dr. James Martin (Jordan Belfi) is appointed by the court to pronounce on the sanity of notorious serial killer Edward Wayne Brady (Sean Patrick Flanery) after the last psychiatrist commits suicide. Strongly warned that Edward is a devious sociopath and master manipulator, James still believes he’s just a death row inmate that is trying to save his hide via an insanity plea. What he meets is a man claiming to be possessed by a demonic entity that calls itself Nefarious.

What follows is basically a close-knit chamber film that is promisting. For the most part, we get two characters, a deranged prisoner and a young doctor trying to keep his sanity, having a conversation. Edward/Nefarious is a mix tapestry that is supposedly smart, hostile and articulate. He gets halfway there until the script gives up early on. He is knowledgeable of James’ life more than he logically should. James is pressured by the warden to pronounce the killer as sane in order to face execution the very same day, but soon he finds himself unable to tell if he’s facing a mentally disturbed man or a sane demon.

It kind of works if you allow your sense of disbelief to play into it. Yes, there has to be at least an iota of willpower to give this premise a chance. There is no gore, there is no special effects, this is all on the actors’ performances. Sean Patrick Flanery makes an effort to portray both Edward and Nefarious with nothing but physical mannerisms and voice tones. He never goes overboard to the point of ridicule, for which I give him props. Jordan Belfi’s Dr. Martin is a more dull character. He should be a little more nervous and jittery. As his ordeal continues, the least believable it is. At some point it gives in to the urge to confirm one truth over the other losing steam. And it’s biased towards an obvious christian point of view.

Not recommended. Yes, there is an obvious christian bias to some of the twisted logic and the rest unfortunately breaks. There’s an obvious agenda of conversion that makes me regret watching this film which started with a promising premise but whimpered out early on. Not worth a watch.

That will do for now.