Apostle director Gareth Evans on knowing when a film goes too far to unsettle its audience

Gareth Evans, the director of Apostle, has discussed how he listens to his gut when deciding how much to unsettle the audience.

The Raid movies brought Gareth Evans to international attention, wowing audiences with rapid and brutal hand-to-hand fight sequences. His next film, Apostle, however, unsettles audiences in a different way, taking the horror route.

Speaking to ComicBook.com, Evans spoke about Apostle and how he uses his gut to know when he has gone too far to unsettle the audience: “I’m not going out of my way to provoke. I’m not saying, ‘Oh, I’m gonna take you on a journey, I’m gonna drag you by your collar, and I’m gonna take you on this awful aggressive ride.’ It’s not aggression in that respect.

“I think it’s purely just a thing of, I rely on my gut instincts whenever I make anything. I rely on my gut instincts to tell me whether something’s too far or not far enough. I can only rely on my own internal barometer for what’s okay and what’s not okay for what I show on screen. So I kind of answer to myself in that respect.”

Evans also touched on not wanting to add crazy violence and shocking moments just for the sake of it: “I’m not designing anything any particular way to make people repulsed. I think if that was what I was aiming for, I think that’s lazy and phony. I want it to feel like whatever we do, whatever our approach is, is earned within the world of the film. And it’s earned within the tonal shifts of the film.”

Apostle is certainly going to be a very different film than The Raid 1 or 2, but it seems just as memorable in its own way. Are you looking forward to seeing it?

SEE ALSO: Dan Stevens is in a world of trouble in first trailer for Gareth Evans’ Apostle

London, 1905. Prodigal son Thomas Richardson (Dan Stevens) has returned home, only to learn that his sister is being held for ransom by a religious cult. Determined to get her back at any cost, Thomas travels to the idyllic island where the cult lives under the leadership of the charismatic Prophet Malcolm (Michael Sheen). As Thomas infiltrates the island’s community, he learns that the corruption of mainland society that they claim to reject has infested the cult’s ranks nonetheless – and uncovers a secret far more evil than he could have imagined. Written and directed by Gareth Evans (THE RAID), APOSTLE is a harrowing occult fable where the only thing more horrifying than madness is the sinister reality behind it.

Apostle is set to arrive on Netflix on October 12th.