Nefarious Is Unlike Any Other Christian Horror Movie

October 2024 · 9 minute read

The Big Picture

In April 2023, the independent horror flick Nefarious earned just over a million dollars and placed tenth at the box office on its opening weekend. The movie hit theaters around the same time as other horror movies like The Pope's Exorcist, Evil Dead Rise, Scream IV, and Renfield; and with such stiff competition, it's impressive that this low-budget indie movie did so well. The picture, which is currently in Prime Video's Top 10 most popular movies, is based on a two-book series by Steve Deace and was written and directed by Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon (the duo behind God's Not Dead and Unplanned). But despite the film's distinctly Christian label, Nefarious rises above the general clichés associated with faith-based productions and stands out as something increasingly more interesting than its religious contemporaries.

‘Nefarious’ Turns Demonic Horror Into a Psychological Mind-Game

On the surface, Nefarious presents itself as a psychological horror film; and while that is certainly accurate, it's only part of the truth. At times, the film echoes a poor man's Silence of the Lambs; but mostly, Nefarious is a Christian thriller with low supernatural content and a whole lot of drama. At parts, the drama is believable and works well, and other times it feels a bit contrived. Still, in either case, it keeps the audience engaged until the end. The film centers on a convicted serial killer named Edward Wayne Brady (Sean Patrick Flanery), a man on death row who claims that he is possessed by a demon who calls himself Nefarious. To determine whether Edward is sane enough to be executed by the State of Oklahoma (which still offers the death penalty), Dr. James Martin (Jordan Belfi) is sent in to evaluate the situation. Naturally, things don't go according to the good doctor's plan.

In highlighting the psychological aspect of the film rather than the supernatural, Nefarious plays more like an extended criminal drama that makes us question what's real. While there comes a point where we all rightfully guess that Nefarious is a true demonic force rather than one of Edward's alternate personalities (à la Split), there's a good amount of time there where we wonder if he's just insane. Part of Nefarious' strength is that it keeps us guessing from the start, though it fails to maintain that suspense throughout. However, what could be seen as a failure might be a strength, since it's the demonic element of this case study that makes Nefarious unique.

"[Nefarious] is the best movie portraying demonic possession ever produced," wrote Father Carlos Martins, a Catholic priest and host of The Exorcist Files podcast, which recounts his personal experience with demonic activity (via The National Catholic Register). "Astute, careful and intelligent thinking went into its script." While it's true that the script here is loads better than anything from the God's Not Dead batch of "sermovies," it's the performances in Nefarious that really sell it — especially that of the film's leading star.

Sean Patrick Flanery Steals the Show as Edward Wayne Brady in 'Nefarious'

In only seconds, Sean Patrick Flanery can switch between the maniacal demon Nefarious and the frightened out-of-his-mind Edward, who struggles to maintain any semblance of control over his mind and body. Flanery commands your full attention as Nefarious masterfully unravels his intricate and devious plan to break James Martin into unrestorable pieces. The demon attempts this through a series of tests and proofs, but particularly through the aforementioned mind games that force James to realize that three lives have been lost because of his selfish actions. While James denies it, in a way, the demon turns out to be right. Flanery plays his part well here and is ultimately what makes Nefarious so thrilling.

Flanery is frightening as Nefarious, exuding the same sort of bent charisma that Elias Koteas does as Azazel in the 1998 thriller Fallen, another demon-possession picture that challenges everything we think we know about the horror sub-genre. Like Fallen, Nefarious gets into the head of our demonic antagonist while allowing us to think that our hero has the upper hand by the end, only for those notions to come crashing down. That's not exactly the sort of message you'd expect to find in a Christian-made horror movie about demons, but it's an interesting one that leaves audiences unsettled and possibly even confused. Of course, Flanery's long-winded soliloquies on theology and morality aren't going to be everyone's cup of tea. Like any movie, Nefarious was made with a specific audience in mind — Christians (albeit with the hope of additional general appeal).

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Despite the overwhelmingly positive audience ratings, critics didn't care much for Nefarious. The Rotten Tomatoes consensus noted that "it's hard to look past the story's heavy-handed proselytizing." Whether that's an accurate description of the film itself or a general disdain for the film's hard conservative stance is certainly up for debate. However, just about everyone can agree that there's power here in Sean Patrick Flanery's performance that propels Nefarious above most faith-based productions. And considering that many recent faith-driven stories like Jesus Revolution, The Shift, and The Chosen have been getting better in both production and entertainment value, that's nothing short of a compliment.

The Priest Doesn't Save the Day This Time Around

Perhaps the most interesting part of Nefarious happens near the beginning of the film. Only 20 minutes in, a priest, one Father Lou (Daniel Martin Berkey), arrives to help James discern whether Edward is actually insane or demon-possessed. While this instantly invokes images of Father Merrin (Max von Sydow) or Father Karras (Jason Miller) from The Exorcist, the results couldn't be more different. Considering that Nefarious opened alongside Russell Crowe's The Pope's Exorcist, it would be a bit repetitive to have two demon-expelling priests in theaters on the same weekend. But Nefarious takes a different approach to the believer versus demon narrative, and it makes the film stronger as a result.

Father Lou doesn't believe in demons. After all, while nearly 70% of Americans believe that literal angels and demons are active in our world (via Pew Research), that still leaves another 30% (a calculation that has varied over the years, even among Christians) of folks who don't. Nefarious explores the idea that even a minister might not believe in such beings as anything more than literary references to deep-seated personal struggles, and rids us of any hope that we'll see the creature be cast out of the suffering death row inmate. That's right. There's no projectile vomiting here, telekinetic thrusts, or black smoke evaporating from one's mouth. Nefarious paints a realistic picture of how one might respond to a literal and unkillable demon, and it leaves us there.

Part of the film's strength is its unwillingness to rely on the standard demonic fanfare that generally embodies these sorts of horror movies. While Nefarious might be more of a psychological/supernatural thriller than a straight-up horror, it still manages to make its titular demon scary without the threat of immediate possession or exorcism. To go a step further, the film correctly notes the gradual series of steps one must go through to be possessed in the first place, moving from obsession to oppression to possession, the same way Ed Warren (Patrick Wilson) explains it in The Conjuring. After all, as C.S. Lewis once penned, "The safest road to Hell is the gradual one."

'Nefarious' Modernizes C.S. Lewis' 'Screwtape Letters' for the 21st Century

"Readers are advised to remember that the devil is a liar," wrote famed Chronicles of Narnia author C.S. Lewis at the beginning of his 1942 work The Screwtape Letters, which itself mirrors the "Dark Gospel" in Nefarious that the titular demon aims to see published. Lewis's book consists of a series of letters that a demon named Screwtape writes to his young nephew, Wormwood, in hopes of teaching him how to best tempt mankind and pull them away from God, often called "the Enemy." Nefarious uses much of the same terminology, and in many ways mixes well with Lewis' ideas of exposing a demon's nefarious plot for the sake of those watching (or, in Screwtape's case, reading). In that regard, Nefarious accomplishes its goal, and while it's not as well-written as Lewis' timeless expression of demonic will, it does the job just fine for 21st-century audiences.

While not a direct adaptation of The Screwtape Letters by any means or even the first to do a "modern reimaging" of the same idea (the Millennium episode "Somehow, Satan Got Behind Me" perhaps did so more creatively in the '90s), the film itself boasts many of the same components that make Lewis' work great, albeit with differing results. Nefarious's exposure of James' corrupt motives regarding his mother plays parallel with Screwtape's plot to keep his unnamed "patient" from having a positive relationship with his own, focusing instead on what's wrong with others rather than himself. And we can't forget that in his anger and frustration with the demon, James does send a man wrongfully to his death, justifying himself while doing so.

'Nefarious' Isn't Perfect, But It's a Great Step for Faith-Based Films

Close

Nefarious is not a perfect horror film, nor is it a perfect film in general. There are some weird things about this picture, most notably the uber-strange and abrasive appearance of Glenn Beck at the end, but strange doesn't mean bad. There's no denying that Nefarious is a film genuinely confident in its premise and execution. It's that confidence, in the direction and performances especially, that makes the film work despite its flaws — and that's a lot more than what most Christian thrillers can say.

You might expect a movie like Nefarious to end with a hamfisted conversion scene that brings James to his knees in a "come to Jesus" moment, but the filmmakers avoid that entirely. In fact, this picture ends the same way many other horror films do — with the titular evil returning to haunt our hero just before the credits roll. It's a powerful ending, one that carries a lot of weight when you consider that the demon had tried to kill James just a year prior. Steve Deace, who wrote the original Nefarious novels, has since announced that a sequel film is in development, as is a subsequent television series with stars Sean Patrick Flanery and Jordan Belfi set to return. How that all will work is yet a mystery, but one thing is clear: the Nefarious story will far outlive the electric chair.

Nefarious can be streamed on Prime Video.

Watch on Prime Video

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