The Apostate (2000) User Reviews

Disposable

[MrGKB · 3/10 · 23 February 2003]

I'll give writer/director William Gove credit for finding someone to finance this ill-conceived "thriller." A good argument for not wasting money subscribing to HBO, let alone buying DVDs based on cover art and blurbs. A pedestrian Dennis Hopper and a game Richard Grieco add nothing significant to their resumes, although the art direction is not half bad. The dialogue will leave you grimacing with wonder at its conceit; this is storytelling at its worst. No tension, no suspense, no dread, no fear, no empathy, no catharsis, no nothing. A few attractive and often nude females spice up the boredom, but this is definitely a film best seen as a trailer. I feel sorry for the guy who greenlighted this thing. Good for late-night, zoned-out viewing only. You have been warned.

Lurching movie that had a glimmer of potential

[BigGuy · 4/10 · 5 September 2000]

This movie was a mess. It had the absolute worst editing I have ever seen. It was almost like at the end of a scene the writer wanted to go to commercial, and the filmmaker added a second of black screen to fulfill the writers dream.

Under the messy direction and editing, there was a glimmer of something good. A good idea, a compelling spark. But somewhere it went wrong.

The story is about a quasi-psychic priest who is trying to solve a string of murders. The first thing that is hard to bite into is Richard Grieco as a priest. Well the part doesn't call for him to be a good priest and he succeeds rather well. The second problem is Dennis Hopper as the crazy bad guy. He always plays the crazy bad guy. Very ho hum.

Oh, a thought occured to me that maybe all the jumpy, horrible editing and disconnected plot was trying to add a sense of the confusion the character (Grieco) was experiencing. And just to prove that it was contrived they rolled the credits backwords. Not a good sign for any movie.

boring

[jean-no · 3/10 · 12 May 2002]

First of all, what is good in the movie ? Some pretty actress ? the exotic background ? the fact that the actors don't laugh while acting (I would have if I had been in their situation) ? I don't know. The storyline is simple : a catholic priest who does abstract painting tries to find out who (another abstract painter) killed his little brother, a male prostitute (raped by another priest when he was young...). I'm afraid there is nothing here to learn or to let think a little about serial killers, art or religion. Dennis Hopper is not very good here. This is the worst episode of the worst season of "profiler" (the serie) with replacement actors and unbelievable coincidences (the uncle is the policeman who, the girl who lives at another victim's house could have a baby with the priest, etc., etc).

One of Richard Grieco's best.

[Flmcrtic · 31 May 2001]

This is one of Richard Grieco's finest performances. He's totally absent of any actor pretense and totally absorbed into his character. Richard reaches real emotional depths. This film is not for everyone but if you want to see real acting watch this one.

Pass on this one

[bsporter99 · 2/10 · 9 August 2001]

This was an impulse pick up for me from the local video store. Don't make the same mistake I did. This movie is tedious, unconvincingly acted, and generally boring. The dialogue between the young priest and his uncle is particularly poorly written and delivered; I cringed at every scene they shared. Dennis Hopper makes a few sparse appearances and is his usual disjointed self; his role was clearly not a stretch for him. And although the movie is supposedly set in Puerto Rico, it feels a lot more like a Hollywood movie lot; all of the main characters are Caucasian and several tend to speak English with pseudo-Irish accents. Odd. Anyway, when you see this one on the shelf of your local video store, keep walking.

Dark, bloody, sweaty, morose slasher flick

[=G= · 6/10 · 18 May 2002]

"The Apostate", a dark drama airing on HBO, tells of an insane artist (Hopper) who slashes his victims and paints on walls with their blood and a Jesuit priest (Grieco) and artist, the brother of a victim, who sets about to find the killer through his art. A grisly, moody flick set in sweaty San Juan, Puerto Rico, "The Apostate" puts Grieco through his paces as it plods along toward a predictable conclusion under oppressively heavy and dark atmospherics. An okay journeyman effort, what the film lacks in story it makes up for with attitude, music, drama, and art. Worth a look for those into B-flick drama with liturgical overtones.

Creepy, weird, and beautiful.

[Dereksonthemic · 6/10 · 25 January 2002]

I recently saw this movie, and I enjoyed it and would encourage others to see it. In the movie, a priest/artist (Richard Grieco) goes to Puerto Rico after he's found out that his brother who's a gay prostitute was brutally murdered. The movie also stars Dennis Hopper who plays an athiest psycho killer, a role he's all to familiar with. The supporting cast is good not great, but they add to the film nicely. The music that underlays the film is haunting voices, breaths, and church music. This is a great mystery/thriller and it's definitely worth seeing.

Paint It Blood Red

[NoDakTatum · 7/10 · 29 November 2023]

Richard Grieco turns in the best performance of his checkered career in this underappreciated little thriller. Grieco is Father Michael, who returns to his native Puerto Rico for his brother's funeral. His brother Sean (Branden Williams), a prostitute, was slashed to death by sicky artist Lewis (Dennis Hopper), and the blood was splashed on the walls. I didn't ruin anything for you, Lewis is shown doing the killing. Another woman is killed by Lewis, and Father Michael sees the crime scene, courtesy of his detective Uncle Daniel (Efrain Figueroa). Michael is also an artist and immediately recognizes that Lewis is not just leaving gory crime scenes, he is painting with the blood. Michael goes undercover to root Lewis out. Michael also meets the pretty ironically named Mary (Bridget White), a nude artist and friend of the dead girl's roommate, who happens to be Michael's former lover. Michael goes through the San Juan underbelly, and of course, struggles with his faith, which was very tenuous at best. Gove directed his own script, and has a fantastic eye. The camera loves Grieco, who looks just plain cool in a priest's clothing. He has one great scene where he is talking about artistic technique while trying to hold down his lunch at a crime scene. He is really fantastic in this film, and I wish he could find better parts. Hopper is okay in the psycho role that he is constantly playing. This could be the mad bomber from "Speed." One problem I had was with director Gove's obsession with wrought iron and barred windows and doors. Every character in the film, major and minor, go through doors or windows with bars or they peer into windows with bars, and eventually the whole cute idea gets overwrought (ha ha). If you want films to compare this to, think of it as a cross between "True Confessions" and "Seven." Gove may be reaching putting a priest on the case, but Grieco more than makes up for the script's minor foibles. I recommend this one.

I Enjoyed This Movie

[jcromwell66762 · 8/10 · 20 December 2013]

I really enjoyed this film, and for someone who is neither a Dennis Hopper fan, and the last thing I remember seeing Richard Grieco in was "21 Jump Street" (now I feel old) I really was able to appreciate the depth of the characters, and the overall storyline had my attention from the very start. For an impulse buy movie, it is one I will watch again and again. The ending had me confused at first, but after reviewing the final scenes (I am not going to divulge anything specific) I was able to figure out where it was going. I think the depictions of the Catholic church were really good, and especially loved Father Killans "confession". Its sad they butchered the final cut in post production, but when it comes to films, writers/directors are interested in art and vision, whereas editors and studios are interested in run time and box office gross. In my opinion, not really a fair trade off.

Dark, mysterious, and interesting.

[Dereksonthemic · 6/10 · 4 February 2002]

I recently saw this movie on hbo, and was pleasantly surprised. This was a movie that I was constantly glued to. Richard Grieco displays true emotion and determination as a priest/artist who goes to Puerto Rico after he's found out that his brother (who is a gay prostitute) has been brutally murdered. The acting is pretty good and the tension between Grieco and Hopper was superb. I give this movie a 6 because the supporting cast was a little shaky and there are some (not many) dull moments in the film. All in all, it's a great flick to watch and will keep you in suspense for quite awhile.

Too far-fetched to be convincing...

[fiera121 · 8 September 2002]

Richard Greico can't act. He's good-looking, but he can't act. Dennis Hopper, however, CAN act and that's why I was so surprised to see him in such a bad movie. The basic premise of this film is that an art expert can use his knowledge of art and what a 'painting' tells him about its artist to help track down a killer, even with no other clues. Believable? No! This one is not worth your time.

Ahead of its time

[ashes1027 · 10/10 · 25 September 2014]

This movie has a concept that was ahead of its time. One has to have some level of intelligence and no Catholic hang ups to understand the twisted mind set of the two main characters. A surprising ending as well! Every time I watch it I see more that I had missed originally. The scenery is real and the frightening artist portrayed by Dennis Hopper reminded me of his character portrayal in Blue Velvet. I absolutely loved the chubby priest who, for a time, added a bit of comedy. I just worry that, since it was released over 10 years ago that it might have been toned down a bit due to the suggestion of priestly improprieties. The direction was brilliant.