The Film Stage by Mike Mazzanti

Evans lets his freak flag billow gloriously in the cinematic wind; leaning into the perverse nature of his work, he fixates on tension and dread to craft a compelling journey enveloped in lunacy.

Consequence by Dominick Suzanne-Mayer

This is punishing filmmaking, both in its sense of overwhelming despair and in its all-too-physical violence, but what sets Apostle apart from being an especially well-shot exploitation feature is its interest in the ideals behind the violence we perform on one another.

IGN by Rafael Motamayor

With Apostle, Gareth Evans has proven he can not only master action films with stunning choreography, but he can also deliver a bone-chilling folk horror tale rich in mythology and shocking in violence. Apostle owes a lot to classic folk horror films, but Evans manages to make his film feel fresh and gripping enough to satisfy even the most blood-thirsty horror fan.

IGN by Rafael Motamayor Aguiton

With Apostle, Gareth Evans has proven he can not only master action films with stunning choreography, but he can also deliver a bone-chilling folk horror tale rich in mythology and shocking in violence. Apostle owes a lot to classic folk horror films, but Evans manages to make his film feel fresh and gripping enough to satisfy even the most blood-thirsty horror fan.

The Guardian by Charles Bramesco

Polarizing yet undeniably fascinating, the bait-and-switch horror film lures its viewer into a false sense of terrified security before pouncing in an anything-goes frenzy, and Evans’s latest is a prime specimen.

Variety by Peter Debruge

Tantalizingly rich in atmosphere and altogether unhurried in revealing its secrets, the evocatively shot, ultra-widescreen Apostle will eventually veer into dark, mercilessly supernatural territory.

RogerEbert.com by Brian Tallerico

Not unlike “Mandy,” some of both halves feel self-indulgent, and I’m not sure Apostle quite justifies its 130-minute running time, but you have to say this about it: It’s like nothing else you could include in your annual Halloween horror marathon this year.

We Got This Covered by Matt Donato

Gareth Evans’ Apostle is The Wicker Man, Safe Haven and Silent Hill thrown into a boil that bubbles over during a ruthless third act that certainly delivers if you have the patience.

New York Magazine (Vulture) by Bilge Ebiri

Apostle is ultimately an absorbing, horrifying movie that’s maybe not as smart as it wants to be. But it is a lot stranger, and more disturbing, than you might expect.

Entertainment Weekly by Chris Nashawaty

Netflix feels like a proper home for a film this idiosyncratic. After all, you’ll know within 30 minutes stumbling onto it whether you want to keep following its unsettling descent into blood-soaked madness or pick up your remote and head over to the relatively sunnier and safer comforts of "Broadchurch."

The A.V. Club by Katie Rife

The film introduces interesting themes as though they’ll build to something, only to let them spill out like so much viscera from an especially nasty wound.

ScreenCrush by Britt Hayes

Apostle is a solid mystery-thriller, but save for predictably engaging performances from Stevens and Sheen, it’s largely unremarkable. Though it’s interesting to see Evans tackle something a little more conventional, this feels almost too conventional for the man who gave us The Raid and its sequel.

The Hollywood Reporter by John DeFore

The Grand Guignol factor climbs throughout the final third, but while climactic battles are violent, they never really thrill.

Uproxx by Vince Mancini

It seems to attempt both schlocky fun gore and disturbingly realistic gore, which feels like an uneasy mix. Whatever line there is between fun, cathartic gore and enervating, off-putting, borderline mean-spirited gore, Apostle crosses it, at least for me. Not exactly a fun time by the end, and it was hard to divine a higher purpose for it (something about religion, I guess?). Hell of a premise, cast, and setting though. And points for boldness.

IndieWire by Eric Kohn

By the time Apostle arrives at its big reveal, the movie has veered off on so many tangled pathways that the ending can’t resolve them all. Instead, it provides a single, ethereal image that hints at the more imaginative possibilities lurking somewhere inside this bloody mess.