Michael Angel

"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.

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.

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.

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.

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.