The Appearance is a supernatural horror flick concerning the murder of a monk that may or may not be due to witchcraft. Jake Stormoen (The Christmas Dragon and the Mythica film series) plays Mateho, a member of the Inquisition, who is sent to investigate. Also along for the trip is Johnny played by Kristian Nairn (Unwelcome and Game of Thrones where he played Hodor) with Adam Johnson (the Mythica film series and The Christmas Dragon as well) plays Felix the monk who sends for the Inquisitor, and Michael Flynn (I’ll Always Know What You Did Last Summer and Stay Out of the Attic) as Abbot Scipio who is not happy to have the Inquisitor there. In her first film role, Baylee Self portrays Isabel a girl accused of witchcraft as well as the murder of the monk. Self plays her role perfectly being just as creepy as she can be. Kurt Knight (We All Fall Down) wrote and directed.
The atmosphere is perfect for a film like this with flickering torchlight and claustrophobic tunnels under the Abbey. When a symbol is found on the dead monks body the Inquisitor keeps seeing it show up. After another monk falls to his death, the people of the town begin to revolt. The Inquisitor does not believe witchcraft is to blame for the deaths but the abbot declares the girl must die. The following day the Inquisitor places her in a barrel filled with water and closes it by locking a crucifix over the top of the barrel. In order to save herself all she has to do is look up at the cross in order to breath. She doesn't and soon dies. But still, the deaths do not stop. Soon, the Inquisitor himself is blamed by the abbot and the other monks. Who or what is really responsible?
Settle in and let this slow burn play out as it does take some time to unfold. A little too much time if I am being honest. If they could have trimmed about ten or fifteen minutes off it would have made a world of difference. If you are a fan of period pieces and medieval stories are your thing there may be enough in here to keep you interested. The ending does bring closure but it's not necessarily where we end up but how we get there that matters. It's pretty average and while nothing stands out as great (Self is easily the best part of the film) nothing is really bad except for that bloated run time either unless you count a low budget against it which I usually never do. I'll go two and a half plague doctor masks out of five for an otherwise very average murder mystery thriller.
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