Then I looked at Nefarious on Rotten Tomatoes. A dismal 33% critic rating...but it somehow maintained a 97% audience rating. Posted on 05/06/2023 8:40:56 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
As a fan of horror films whose wife doesn't share my affection for them, I'm encouraged to watch movies when I travel on business if I ever get a free evening. Tuesday night was just such a night, and there were options.
First, there was a 7:40 showing of Evil Dead Rise. I enjoy most things of the Evil Dead franchise, so I figured this would be the option. But I also noticed there was another intriguing movie playing at this particular Southern California movie theater that I'd never heard about, called Nefarious, at 7:20.
I checked out the trailer.
Sean Patrick Flanery (of whom I'm a fan and grew up watching, of Young Indiana Jones Chronicles, Suicide Kings, and Boondock Saints fame) plays a death row inmate, found guilty of multiple murders, and who prison officials assume is acting so erratically and manipulatively that he must be seeking a stay of execution by means of insanity. Specifically, he claims to be a demon possessing the body of the convict. A psychiatrist, who harbors demons of his own, is tasked with determining the convict's level of sanity or insanity, putting his life or death squarely in the psychiatrist's hands.
It looked interesting enough, so I did this silly thing that I often like to do while weighing which movie I should go see and looked at Rotten Tomatoes.
Evil Dead Rise is at a solid 84% critic rating. Promising.
Then I looked at Nefarious on Rotten Tomatoes. A dismal 33% critic rating...but it somehow maintained a 97% audience rating.
That piqued my interest. What could possibly be going on with this movie that almost every non-critic who decided to weigh in on it says it's great, but two thirds of critics hate it?
(Excerpt) Read more at americanthinker.com ...
THE CRITIC’S REVIEWS ACTUALLY PIQUED THE AUTHOR’s INTEREST HE SAID:
Then I read some of the reviews.
Carla Hay at Culture Mix sums up her consternation by saying that it became “preachy propaganda for right-wing beliefs.”
Uh-huh. Go on, I thought.
Reviewer Cody Leach tells us that the movie’s marketing as a “possession thriller” is a bait-and-switch to deliver a “Christian and Conservative propaganda piece” about “abortion, euthanasia, and the death penalty.”
Movie Nation said the “only thing not covered in this Christo-fascist manifesto of a movie is ‘guns.’”
That was it. If left-wing movie critics hated this movie that much, I simply had to see it.
I did, and it didn’t disappoint.
Cardinal Burke (one of the signers of the dubia ignored by Pope Francis and friend of Catholic Tradition), gave this movie his imprimatur. It is only on 300 screens aand has been out for almost a month, so if you haven’t seen it, go. I plan to bring my son, who has a taste for horror movies that are less than edifying.
There was a (sponsored) bit on Breitbart about all the spooky/implausible mishaps or attacks — on a scale I haven’t read of since the making of The Passion of the Christ.
I don’t know whether I need to see more about possession; but I know who doesn’t want me to see more about it.
Thanks, on www.rottentomatoes.com it has a 33% critics rating but now a 96% viewers rating.
https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/nefarious_2023
I recently watched "The Pope's Exorcist" with Russell Crowe. Crowe portrays a real priest who was an exorcist for the Vatican. His name was Father Gabriele Amorth. Of course the movie was over-the-top horror, but when I discovered Father Amorth was a real person, I had to check him out. He was also an author, and I ordered two of his books from Amazon: "An Exorcist Tells His Story" and "An Exorcist: More Stories." Father Amorth died at the age of 91 in 2016. I'm looking forward to reading his books.
movie ping
Bfl
My husband and I went to see it twice. It is Excellent. The acting is outstanding....the message is thought provoking.
“…became “preachy propaganda for right-wing beliefs.”“
There a Julia Roberts / George Clooney movie on Prime wherein the Roberts character regretfully admits that it was her buying into feminist belief that spurred the breakup of the family. A real wtf did I just hear moment.
Thanks. Nefarious had caught my eye but I’ve not watched it yet. Definitely on my list. Huge gaps between critics and audience scores are often interesting. Ratebombing by audiences vs. groupthink by hack critics tends to mean “better watch it for yourself.”
“My husband and I went to see it twice.”
We saw it once. You say, “thought provoking”. Absolutely! It’s crammed with so much information we found ourselves thinking about it for days.
The way abortion and wokeness were handled was excellent. The acting was stunning.
“a Julia Roberts / George Clooney movie on Prime “
We have that on our list of movies to watch. I think it’s something like “Ticket To Paradise”.
Glad they had a moment negative about feminism.
I noticed that Rotten T indicated “There are no featured audience reviews at this time.” Yet some of the reviews were thoughtful enough to feature. What’s the deal with that? I don’t visit RT often enough to know if that means anything.
Not showing up on streaming yet. Darn.
good point re ratings
It’s on Amazon prime now.
Ha! I knew this would be on Freep. I’m 3/4th through the movie now and it’s absolutely blowing my mind!
I only appraise movies by the viewer’s scores. Movie “critics” are a cabal of pretentious ninnies given over to self-congratulatory pomposity.
Read the book many years ago. A Nefarious Plot by Steve Deace. GREAT book.
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