A new movie hits US theaters today, 14 April. Nefarious.
The title “Nefarious” has been used several times, so don’t confuse it with other movies.
I have had a sneak preview of the movie and I strongly recommend it, though not for children.
It is being listed as a “horror” film. It isn’t really that, though there are elements that are horrifying.
There is no exorcism in the movie, just the manifestation of the demon in the possessed man. There could be a sequel in which someone is going to need an exorcism… big time.
The basics of the plot. In an Oklahoma prison a serial killer is sentenced to die. A psychiatrist must sign off that he is not insane and therefore competent to undergo the death penalty. The problem is that the condemned prisoner has company: he is possessed by a particularly nasty demon. This demon is in complete control and wants something in particular from the “atheist” doctor.
This movie – made by devout and well-informed Catholics – is a roller-coaster of manipulation and psychological torture which one of my exorcist friends says is right along the lines of how demons really do attack.
The writers and cast managed to bring in a great deal of theology. It is a bit of a workshop on demons and Hell.
There were numerous supernatural phenomena that occurred during the making of this film. My same exorcist friend was invited to the premier, where all sorts of other clearly evil, things happened as well, probably because of witchcraft.
Clearly the Enemy doesn’t like this movie.
Make sure that it is a success at the box office.
BTW… it was originally ready for some 1800 theaters but – coincidentally – something happened and another “devil movie” edged out this one. Hmmm.
And it is probably a zillion times more honest and accurate than the new Russell Crowe thing, which I understand is a dog and pony show.
Fr. Carlos Martins, who has the wonderful Treasures of the Church apostolate with relics, was at the premier. He has a short video about what happened. HERE
Here is a link to the trailer: HERE
I am curious.
Had any of you heard about this movie before this? Before today or just very recently? I have the sense that it has been less than subtly suppressed. Perhaps by powers that be who want you to go to a different “devil” movie with a bigger budget and a few less authentic Christian message.
Let me know in the combox.
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I had not heard of it until I went to Breitbart this morning and saw an article on it. And then yours Father. Count me as one who will go to see it!
I knew the film was in the works, but had not followed its development.
IMDB entry for “Nefarious” (2023). There is a link that allows you to see if the film is playing in your area. AMC Boston Common will be showing it today through Wednesday, April 19.
I didn’t hear about this movie until recently from Fr. Carlos Martins. As in earlier this week.
I regularly listen to Steve Deace (the author of the book from which the movie was derived)so I’ve been hearing about it for awhile; he mentioned that originally the release date was picked (in part at least) because there wasn’t much else scheduled to be released concurrently, but then out of the blue a bunch of movies were scheduled to drop at the same time, which people in the industry told him was very rare, if not unheard of. Fortunately, they were able to drum up enough grassroots support to get in over 900 theatres for the opening weekend. My wife and I are going tomorrow.
LifeSite had an interview with the directors a couple days ago, and some of the Daily Wire shows have been plugging it a bit this past week. I’ve also seen some write-ups this week about it in the Federalist and the Stream (Zmirak, I believe). I don’t watch TV or go to movies regularly, so I don’t know about its reach in those arenas. I think the marketing budget was fairly modest; Steve has mentioned that they saved most of it for a two-week blitz prior to the premiere. I think he also said that it’s gotten pretty good buzz on a website (whose name I forget) which tracks audience interest in upcoming films.
Hoping it does really well, and I’m excited to view it tomorrow. First movie I’ve gone to in at least 5 years.
We have not heard a peep about this film. The trailer looks good. Father’s endorsement of the content makes it more appealing.
Should people see if if they’re still rattled by the Exorcist.
Hello, Father,
Steve Deace is on Twitter and that’s where I first learned about the movie around two weeks ago. He’s just recovering from a sudden illness also and had a lot of people praying for him.
I received an email from the producers on Tuesday – in my spam folder. So I did a bit of research to see if it was real or junk mail. I moved the email to my inbox but it was back in my spam folder yesterday.
There’s also something about it on lifesitenews.com
I watched the trailer on IMDb. Not sure if I’d want to see it because I’ve always had problems sleeping after watching psychologically scary movies, even as an adult!
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Ok. After watching Fr Carlos’ video, I’ll reconsider if it is shown locally. I see The Pope’s Exorcist is currently showing here :(
I had heard about it on the radio, but I listen to a conservative talk station. I don’t know that’s I’ve seen much about it from conventional sources. Not to say that’s it’s not being advertised, just that I haven’t noticed.
The mind behind the movie is Steve Deace; he originally wrote “A Nefarious Plot” which was then developed into this movie. While not Catholic, he’s a strong culture warrior and has a mid-day radio/tv show on the Blaze. I’ve known about the movie for several years since I listen to his show.
I’m glad it’s now getting the exposure. While I may not get to see it this weekend, I hope to see it soon.
I saw a preview I think on television just the other day and it looked interesting. Now that I know more, I will be sure to check it out.
If you can believe it, I found out about it about a week ago through Twitter ads on my feed
First heard about it this a.m. from The Stream and John Z.
I heard about this movie last week through a Catholic group that I belong to online. I have heard it is playing at select theaters in large cities.
Hmm…I am wondering if a group is trying to suppress this film. There were groups trying to suppress the Unplanned movie (including social media) and fortunately the suppression backfired.
I watched the trailer and also Fr. Martins. It is R rated.
Heard about it yesterday when I went to the LifeSiteNews website, then saw it on both Breitbart and Liberty Daily.
I did not know about the movie though this type of movie is not my usual interest and I have not gone to the movie theater in years. I was probably less likely to see an ad for it.
I just heard about this movie in the last few days. The review said that this was the one to see, rather than the Russell Crowe movie.
This is the first I’ve heard of it. It’s interesting that it’s set in Oklahoma, where I was raised and where I live now. There’s been quite a resurgance of Native American religions here, largely from the efforts of Protestant ministers who think it’s good to mix Christianity and the old ways. I wonder if the prisoner in this movie is, by any chance, Native American? A local minister was heavily into the old religion and taught it to many of his family. My gut tells me this is probably a major reason, along with alcoholism, why so many of his descendants spend much of their time in the local jail.
On a personal note, we have some Native religionists for neighbors. They’re terrible people. They’ve cursed us and threatened to burn down our house. Their grandmother is Catholic but the rest of the family appears to have gone over to this dark, very dark side. We could use prayers.
Hadn’t really paid attention to it, but I think I did hear about it.
From the description, it sounds a bit like the movie “Mr. Frost” with Jeff Goldblum.
About the R rating. There is some serious mental cruelty inflicted by the demon on the energumen and on the psychiatrist. It’s not a language or explicit thing. It also touches on two life issues, one at the beginning of life and one at the end. The demon leaves no doubt as to the evil nature of both. One of those is one of the most powerful in the entire film.
Kudos to the actor. Serious serious amazed kudos to the actor.
I don’t recall hearing of this movie until reading it, just now, on your site.
Father, when we did the documentary about the late Father Malachi Martin, “Hostage to the Devil, there were times when the equipment wouldn’t work unless blessed rosaries were placed on the cameras.
It was VERY frustrating to bring a non-functioning $25,000 camera BACK to B&H Photo in Manhattan several times, only to have the Canon motion picture tech tell us the cameras were in PERFECT working order.
As with “Nefarious,” the Adversary hates the sunlight of the Lord Jesus.
I hadn’t heard of it until seeing this blog post, but saw that it was playing locally and immediately went out and watched it.
It was an excellent movie. Certainly a very unusual movie for today’s market, but it certainly left the impression that it was about as real as it gets. It was not effects-driven. It didn’t rely on unsettling music. I don’t think it even necessarily opened any real doorways for disordered curiosity in the matter. But it certainly leaves you thinking.
I concur with Fr. Z’s recommendation of it.
In the last week it was the subject of several ad reads across multiple Daily Wire podcasts. That’s the only place I’ve heard about it.
No, we had not heard of it until John-Henry Westen’s rave reviews this week and interview with the Catholic producers. It has been called a masterpiece akin to Screwtape Letters. Interesting indeed that Raymond Arroyo had Russel Crowe on his show Thursday and not about this film. “Pope’s Exorcist” movie a real fake. Crowe proved to be a real jerk. Shame that. This movie deserves the publicity. Go see Nefarious today or tomorrow to get opening weekend support. It is totally necessary for this time.
I hadn’t heard of the film at all until just now, when I read your posting.
I just returned from seeing the film — very good! The only theological quibble I have is when the demon stated that he “knows more theology than any human being who ever lived.”
Jesus Christ was a human being! Outside of Him, that would have been a true statement.
[Be careful. Jesus was a Divine Person with two perfect natures, divine and human. It is not enough to say that Christ is… is… a “human being”.]
It is playing here, so I will probably get out to it Monday – this will be the first time in over a decade I’ll be to the movies more than once in a calendar year.
It is strange how much else is playing to drown this one out at the 18-screen cinema (it has 3 showings for both today and Monday). Among everything else are 2 re-releases and at least 2 other religiously themed movies:
Return of the King 20th
Big Lebowski 20th
His Only Son (another biblical themed movie)
The Pope’s Exorcist
Super Mario Bros. (which I did see and which is how I found out about Nefarious)
Not playing in Canada. Silly Canada.
I’m planning to see it this Friday. I can’t remember where I heard about it, but I’m sure it was somewhere in the Catholic Internet world. I HAD been looking forward to The Pope’s Exorcist… until I saw the trailer. ? And then the tagline is “The Exorcist meets The DaVinci Code.” But Sean Patrick Flannery is the lead in Nefarious, and I loved him when I was younger, when he played in The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles. It also has a 48% rating from critics on Rotten tomatoes, and 97% from audience. That sells it to me even more!
Fr. Z — yes, I should have been more careful in my wording.
It’s true that Jesus was not a human person. But he was a human being, which was the term used in the film.
Oh my goodness! We just got back from seeing this! We were seriously STUNNED when it was over! For some, (if they would go to it) — this could be life-changing on their views (I hope).
A few tips:
Close your eyes to the previews of the horror shows before it starts.
Ask St. Michael to sit with you. (I hate scary stuff)
Not required, but a few phrases in Latin I would have liked to have known what was said.
As someone said, the actor – amazing is a paltry thing to say.
Had not heard of this movie until an hour before seeing your post. Saw the movie on April 19. First time in a movie theater in many years. I highly recommend seeing it. Left me with so many thoughts and questions. Hard to believe this movie could be produced in the political climate we now live in. Will echo another comment about the horror movie advertisements before this movie finally started – truly sick. I hope to see it again but will arrive 18 minutes later to avoid sitting thru them again.
At the end of Nefarious, after all the credits, there was several phrases of dialog said in Latin. I don’t suppose many stayed until the end of all the credits. I heard that there was a scene at the end of the credits. There were a number of sentences said in Latin. Did anyone catch that and/or know what the translation is?
I waited until the end of the credits as well. The voice first repeated, “ MENE, MENE, TEKEL, UPHARSIN” , which Nafrious previously uttered as Edward was being executed- “ Thou art weighed in the balances, and art found wanting”. This is from the Book of Daniel Chapter 5- the writing on the wall. This is NOT Latin.
Then the voice uttered something in Latin, which I translated on the spot “you do not fully understand, this will continue”. I am not sure that is what was said, given that I only heard it once in the demonic voice and it has been a while since I’ve conversed in Latin. But I took it to mean one of two things:
#1 there is a sequel, which would make sense as I believe the film was made as a prequel to the book, “A Nefarious Plot”
#2 the directors wanted to connect the story to the “real world”, saying that the spiritual battle continues in our world beyond the movie screen-this was not JUST a story but how our world really works.
I think I first heard of it in a discussion on April 19th on a YouTube program called US Grace Force with Fr. Martins , Fr. Hellman, and the two movie producers. We’ll eventually watch it when it goes to streaming.