Apprentice to Murder

A very fine movie, totally underrated. Despite a bad box for the DVD edition, this is NOT a "horror flick", but a greatly interesting and subtle approach of a strange and complex relationship between an influenced young man (Lowe) and a disturbed pow-wow-preacher, tortured by his secret fears -- and desires... Homosexual implications, wonderful camera work, and great musical score by Charles Gross. There is a magic in this movie, which places it somewhere between "The Night of the hunter" and "The Reflecting skin". Felicitations to R.L. Thomas. Oh !... and Donald Sutherland is memorable !... His performance is suave, well balanced, and constantly precise.

Donald Sutherland plays a pseudo priest / medicine man in what is supposed to be Pennsylvania Dutch Country, but is actually Norway. Unfortunately this based on fact Devil hunt, doesn't have enough of a story to maintain interest for 97 minutes, and a romantic subplot comes across as nothing but an afterthought. The real problem with "Apprentice to Murder" however, is the fatal flaw of not playing fair with it's audience. What is presented as fact, is suddenly turned upside down, as relates to the powers of a suspected "Devil". If a movie is going to basically trick people for the sake of sensationalism, it better present the trick in a way that leaves room for actually being able to believe the outcome. - MERK

"Apprentice to Murder" carries an interesting theme with its narrative about a young man (Chad Lowe) who befriends a medicine man (Donald Sutherland) who can feel the presence of demon in other people and decides to commit murders in the name of God. Sounds something you seen before in other movies but this time we have a real life story that took place in the late 1920's. However the movie fails to deliver an interesting story and also fails to make viewers curious or deeply interested in the story thanks to a slow oriented presentation that takes ages to reach its summit and present the horrific elements behind the final murder.

Here's a regular and weak movie with some fine performances. Too bad those don't match with such a film that wastes the use of good actors (Eddie Jones is amazing as the boy's drunken father, and Donald plays the usual sinister type). The more it progresses the more the film gets stuck with repetition and a really progression of events that waste everybody's time. Don't waste yours, not even out of curiosity in seeing how the performances and settings go. 5/10.

Shot in September-November, 1986, this is a psychological drama and supernatural thriller based on a true story that took place in the Pennsylvania Dutch community southeast of York in late November, 1928. The case involved the practice of Braucherei or powwow, which was their brand of folk medicine. The book "The Long Lost Friend" was their manual, written by powwower Johann Georg Hohman (published in 1820).

Donald Sutherland is effective as the fascinating healer with a Christian garnishment while Chad Lowe works well as the naïve protagonist in a John Boy Walton kind of way. Meanwhile Mia Sara is stunning, fresh off her success with "Ferris Bueller's Day Off."

The tone is lyrical with slight supernatural bits curiously thrown into the mix. It's an oddity that makes comparisons difficult, but there are fragments reminiscent of films like "Rachel, Rachel," "The Exorcist," "Picnic at Hanging Rock," "The Seventh Sign," "The Apostle" and "The Skeleton Key." This ranks with the least of 'em due to the ambiguity of the proceedings, but there's enough good here for those interested.

Speaking of the supernatural bits, are they for real or is it a depiction of events through a schizophrenic lens? The movie leaves it up to the viewer to decide.

I should add that Pennsylvania Dutch hex signs are included in the story, but they're oddly called "hexagrams" for some unknown reason.

It runs 1 hour, 33 minutes, and was shot in Nygardsparken in Bergen, southwest Norway, as well as Osteroy, just north of there. The house in the story stands to this day and is located at Rehmeyer's Hollow, which is located 14 miles southeast of York, just a couple miles east of I-83.

GRADE: B-/B.

Just want to ad that much of the movie is filmed at the west coast of Norway and in the city Bergen.

I probably liked the movie because of that... The buildings and landscape fits the movie well. Based on how religious some people were in some areas at the west coast (maybe still are), and how strong some believe in the super-natural, the story gets a good framing from the Norwegian nature.

Some of the landscapes are probably gone to day, farming areas are becoming suburbs, and the cities are growing. But you may still find some buildings, and the scenes from the center of Bergen are almost identical to day.