Nefarious: An education on the reality of the devil’s activity among us

Dr. James Martin, a psychiatrist, is called to a maximum-security prison for an urgent task: he must determine whether Edward Wayne Brady, hours before his scheduled execution, is sane enough to be put to death for his crimes.

The prisoner claims to be a demon, and sets out to prove it, among other means by revealing details about Martin’s life that a mere mortal could not possibly know. Martin, who believes in neither God nor the devil, is left with two choices: either Brady is crazy, or he is who he says he is.
 
That’s the plot of Nefarious, a feature film that debuted in theaters in April. It’s not to be confused with another April release, The Pope’s Exorcist, which uses the name of the late Fr. Gabriel Amorth and the star power of Russell Crowe to produce a routine work of sloppy horror fiction bearing little or no resemblance to the real Catholic ministry of exorcism. Nefarious won’t get any love at the Academy Awards, but it does provide a serious exploration of demonic activity in the world. 

Despite the supernatural theme and the R rating, this isn’t a movie full of cheap jump-scares and gore like so many others. Most of the film takes place in a small room in the form of a dialogue between Martin and Brady — the entire story could be performed onstage with minor set changes. The suspense comes not so much from physical peril (save for when the action moves to the death chamber) as from the chilling way the demon educates Martin on the influence and works of evil, even within his own life.

A familiar face here is Fr. Darrin Merlino, C.M.F., a presenter at Legatus’ Men’s Enclave last fall, an advisor on the film who has a small role as a prison guard. “The film is preaching the gospel in reverse,” he said, comparing Nefarious to a mashup of C.S. Lewis’ Screwtape Letters and the 1991 film Silence of the Lambs. He hopes viewers, especially those aged 13 to 35, will see “the hidden agenda of Satan and his minions’ attack on humanity” and “either return to God or seek him out.” 

The scariest aspect of the film, indeed, is its reminder that the devil is real.