Review: Nefarious was the Best Horror Movie I’ve Seen. (Spoilers)

Okay, to be fair, I haven’t seen many horror films. My family is not a fan of them and generally think they are stupid and cheesy. And from the clips of horror movies that I have seen, I can agree with that assessment. They look dumb.

However, a few weeks ago, we watched the movie Nefarious on Dailywire+ because a pastor my mom listens to said it’s a good movie, which piqued her interest. So, we saw it and for a movie that’s 95% two people sitting across a table from each other talking, it’s the best horror film I’ve ever seen, and it provides some valuable insights into how demons actually affect people.

The first thing I’ll comment on is how good the performances were. In a movie that relies primarily on two people sitting at a table chatting, the actors needed to be able to convey a lot without relying on much to boost their acting. They needed to rely on their tone of voice, their facial expressions, and their body language to make the characters feel real.

And the actors did just that, with the best performance coming from the actor playing man possessed by the demon, Nefarious. He was convincing as a person who’s either incredibly mentally unstable, manipulative, or truly demon possessed. He was genuinely disturbing to watch.

Moving on from the great performances, I really enjoyed how Nefarious didn’t rely on the cliches of what demon possession looks like. One thing I’ve noticed from what I’ve seen from other horror movies, demon possession almost always seems to be super sensationalized. It’s always shown through the character doing things like climbing on walls, floating, having superhuman strength, murdering people, having a different appearance, throwing up pea soup, etc. Even from the stories I’ve heard from Catholic priests who have done exorcisms, (such as the guy who was interviewed by Micheal Knowles) I don’t know how much to believe since I don’t know how much has potentially been embellished.

But Nefarious doesn’t do that. Instead, it shows a version of demon possession that I would argue is more in line with the instances of possession found in Scripture, where it presents more as severe mental instability rather than a horror flick. There’s even an entire scene in which Dr. James Martin (the main character) asks Nefarious how he came to be demon possessed, and the demon describes his host’s gradual descent into possession, starting with a childhood interest in the spirit realm before he gradually succumbed to Nefarious.

This aligns pretty closely with C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters, which describes how demons and temptation actually affect people. They aren’t overt in tempting people to sin. It starts gradually, with small things that snowball later. It’s something that we can even see in the Bible in Genesis 3, where Satan tempts Eve in the Garden. He doesn’t tell her “I’m gonna get you to disobey God! Bwa-ha-ha!” Instead, he asks questions, planting doubt in her mind, then appealing to her pride.

Another thing I found interesting in Nefarious is how it criticizes atheism. At times, it’s overt, where the demon laughs at Martin’s denial of the existence of God. At other times, it’s subtle. At the end of the film, which takes place a year after Martin himself is temporarily possessed at the execution of Nefarious’ host, he is asked if he believes in the supernatural after his experience. In response, he continues to deny its existence, though he’s not as sure in that statement.

The reason why I find this interesting is because I think this is something a lot of atheists do. Just look at Richard Dawkins, who has said that even if God sent him an explicit sign of His existence, he would just chalk it up to natural processes being weird or hallucinations. It’s a subtle critique of how far humans will go to continue to deny the existence of God or the supernatural to preserve their own presuppositions that there is no greater power to fear but themselves.

Overall, I’ll give this movie a 10/10. I absolutely recommend that people watch it.

Until next time,

M.J.