Synopsis:

Richard Grieco plays a Jesuit priest whose brother while working as a prostitute, is murdered in the slums of San Juan Puerto Rico. Given the mutilation of the bodies and the use of their blood as "paint" if you will, Grieco identifies the murderer as a religious fanatic whose crimes will not only increase but also become more and more horrific. Dennis Hopper (skills totally wasted here) plays the psychopath and ham it up, he does. The Apostate had great promise of being a decent thriller however, Grieco's inability to convey a believable character coupled with the numerous failings of the script, extremely poor acting from the balance of the cast and a film that for all intents and purposes had no point, doomed the movie from the opening credits.

Audio/Video:

The feature is presented in a DD2.0 platform that adequately presents the film's aural material. The dialogue was, for the most part easily understood. However, the subs cleared up any and all questions where the dialogue was muddied to the point where it could not be understood. The effects of the score, rain effects and stingers coupled with dialogue made for difficult listening at times. The visual portion of the feature is a full frame presentation that for the most part is pleasing to the eye. There are elements of pixellation and grain in the transfer that became evident in every one of the darker segments of the film.

Extras:

There are no extras on this disc.

Overall:

The Apostate stands out as a seriously sub-standard entry. Truthfully, I had forgotten all about Richard Grieco until I saw his name on the jacket of the disc. While Grieco was able to muster an incredible amount of emotional energy, he was not able to make his character real. The success of any film in the way of enjoyment/believability comes from the viewer being able to immerse him or herself in the world that's been presented. The Apostate never really got any steam going in that direction and the end result is pretty awful. Skip it