I discovered Nefarious a few months ago. I enjoyed the movie on my initial watch and recently watched it again. The movie is a psychological drama with themes of religion. I think I enjoyed the movie because of the great dialogue and the not too bad acting. Nothing amazing, but in my opinion Nefarious is a well made little tale and I’m writing this article because I enjoyed it twice.
On the day of his scheduled execution, a convicted serial killer gets a psychiatric evaluation during which he claims he is a demon, and further claims that before their time is over, the psychiatrist will commit three murders of his own.
iMDB Synopsis
An inmate sits on death row for a series of horrific murders and other diabolical crimes. He’s set to meet the electric chair in a few hours but a psychological profile must be performed prior to the execution to confirm he’s fit for the sentence and will be carried out barring any reported psychological issues or last minute reprieve that might come in. The psychiatrist enters the prison and must make a determination within 4 hours that the accused is not insane so that the execution may continue. A previous psychiatrist who was going to make the determination that the accused is insane and mentally unfit for execution due to insanity however he (the previous psychiatrist) committed suicide before being able to sign all the necessary paperwork for execution.
A new psychiatrist enters the picture and this is where we’re placed as the movie starts. In front of him is the accused appropriately chained and secured to a metal prison desk which is bolted to the ground. A game of cat and mouse ensues over the run time of movie as the two verbally joust. Well if you were paying attention the psychiatrist must simply agree with the previous psychiatrists’ paperwork that the man is insane and as such the execution must be stopped. A lot of information starts to stack up through character and story development and well disguised exposition. Does the accused actually want to die? And if that’s the case, you might think this all a simple matter, however, simple is not how the story is going to go.
You see the accused initially denied ever performing any of the activities which led him to prison. He’s convinced his body is being inhabited by a demon, or possibly demon’s, with a ‘S’, and it was it, or they, that committed the terrible murders. I wanted to die right away for all this because “I didn’t want to believe any of it could be true, and by my hand”, the possibly insane one muses.
Well our lawyer believes in science and can’t be persuaded by man or the so called devil so our lawyer calls up the on premise priest and invites him down for a quick chat. Our man, or demon, who can tell at this point, shrieks at the priest and warns him to stay back. “You want to read from the book and put hands on me,” our accused whimpers. “Not so,” the priest replies. “Oh”, demon/man exclaims. “Well pull up a chair and let’s have a chat,” de-man asks again and the priest sits in a seat opposite…
As I don’t like spoiling movies, or completely spoiling the movies I review, I’ll leave it there and hope that maybe it’s enough to get you to go and watch Nefarious and enjoy it as I did. It’s the classic struggle of man vs Satan and this time it takes place in the ‘Death House” of a penitentiary. Who wins? You’ll have to see it to believe it.
Nefarious was directed by Chuck Konzelman and Cary Solomon. Written by Chuck Konzelman, Cary Solomon, and Steve Deace. Featuring San Patrick Flannery (the accused) and Jordan Belfi (our lawyer) as our primary protagonist and antagonist.