This is an earnest warning. Nefarious labels itself as a horror film, but it lies. The setup maintains the pretense, providing a rather tantalizing setup, where a death row inmate proclaims to an assessor he is a demon, and prophesizing his interviewer will commit murders before the session ends. What follows is mostly a dialogue between two characters in a single location, where the demon attempts to convince his opposition of the validity and nature of his claim.
I make an earnest attempt to remain apolitical in reviews and assessments, and enjoy films presented from the perspective of myriad religious and moral frameworks. My personal philosophy on the nature of evil, the metaphysical and religion does not bias an appreciation of stories told from every perspective. Nor does political affiliation negate the possibility of empathy or understanding of perspectives and stories told from frameworks that might otherwise be vastly different from mine.
So with that disclaimer… This is not a horror film, this is a bait and switch attempt to get audiences to listen to a tedious sermon conducted by individuals without qualifications, skill, or intelligence. There is no fear or tension, suspense or anticipation, there is horrifically bad dialog and equally atrocious overacting. To be fair, the opening and first act offers a modicum of hope one might be treated to an interesting film, before degenerating into boredom and political manifestos about demons rejoicing in the ‘athiest left’s’ agenda to destroy america. And there certainly could be a horror movie based in those concepts; religious and political horror movies have done far more with less, but this is not it. This is boredom and bad theology with all the wit and intelligence contained in a bag of lobotomized rocks. False equivalencies, straw men, logical fallacies abound, you’d think an eternal spiritual intelligence might be capable of formulating a cohesive argument, but this is akin to a home-schooled preschoolers thesis prompted by a helicopter parent in an inbred household. Then there’s the anti-climax which <<spoilers for anyone determined to endure this sludge>> the resolution to all conflict comes through a brief moment of prayer, then the viewer is forced to endure another sermon, co-starring Glenn Beck. Avoid at all costs.