Saint Sinner

What a disappointment! A weak, illogical plot loaded with cliches. There is so much psycho-sexual territory to be mined in exploring the mythology of Incubi, but this stinker does nothing more than throw in the towel. Clive Barker has done some good original stuff, but not here, not now.

don't know from where this master writer get these names (munkar & nakir),it's certainly in Islamic context but i don't about Christianity. Munkar and Nakir in Islamic eschatology are two 'malaikat'(angels) who test the faith of the dead in their tombs. After death, they prop the deceased upright in the grave and ask "Who is your Lord?, Who is your Prophet?, What is your Book?" A righteous muslim will respond correctly. He will then be shown the place that had been reserved for him in HELL, but told that Allah has exchanged it for a place in PARADISE. An infidel, of course will not respond correctly, and the angels will rebuke him: "Neither did you know nor did you seek guidance from those who had knowledge". Then they will hit him with an iron hammer between his ears, show him the place he could have had in Paradise, and throw him into HELL. IF THIS MOTHER/DAUGHTER DEMONS/SUCCUBI did not appears in the Bible. THIS CERTAINLY IS AN INSULT.

If you like Clive Barker film adaptations you will probably like this. This is a good and bad thing of course as Barker films tend to be uneven. On the plus side is decent acting and some genuinely spooky scenes especially in the first half. The two sucubi are especially interesting at first with quirky mannerisms and they do give an impression of supernatural beings in human form. The effects are generally good but do get a little cheesy in parts (the latex look). The protagonists also tend to become less interesting as the film goes on. Thats the main problem I have with this movie in that it just goes on too long. I really enjoyed the first hour but steadily lost interest as the story ran out of ideas and became pretty predictable. All in all though it was enjoyable enough and does show more imagination than a lot of what passes for horror these days. If you liked this I would recommend "Hellraiser" also by Clive and "The Prophecy" with Christopher Walken.

I was shocked to see that this got so low a rating. I really liked this movie. The story is so good, and brings to mind the best work of Clive Barker. I thought this movie has some purposeless violence. However, that does not change the fact that a wonderful story is being told in a way which is far beyond most main-stream horror. 10/10.

Judged against the majority of Clive Barker adaptations, this one ranks as one of the better; not as good as 'Lord of Illusions', 'Hellraiser', or 'Midnight Meat Train', but far more enjoyable than the dismal Candyman/Hellraiser sequels, about on par with 'Night Breed', 'Book of Blood', or the original 'Candyman'.

In 1815, a curious monk accidentally unleashes a pair of lethally seductive succubi, who swiftly kill his brother and then flee through time. Wishing to atone for his sins, the monk follows the pair to the 20th century where he must slaw them with a magical dagger. He is arrested after arriving too late to one of their murder scenes and is forced to try to convince a female cop with no religion to believe him.

Produced for the SciFi channel (or now SyFy, how dorky), the movie has some of the problems connected with made for TV flicks; that is a few tacky sets, less-than-stunning visual effects, and some cheesy lines of dialogue.

On the plus side, the film has an excellent color pallet and a good sense of mood lighting. The lead protagonists (the monk and the cop) are a likable pair of heroes and the succubi sisters manage to be both desirable and repulsive in just about equal proportions.

As mentioned, this was intended for cable broadcast, so the movie has to conform to TV standards of content; meaning no nudity or graphic violence. That being said, the film is surprisingly sticky (even without excess blood, there are a couple noteworthy gross-out scenes) and there is a fair amount of sexual content. On a side not, the DVD has a couple of unrated scenes in the special features which contain some nudity for those that absolutely can't do without it.

Imperfect, yet still satisfying; worth a look.

7/10