''The Reverend'' is a 2011

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

directed by Neil Jones. It had its world premiere on October 7, 2011 at the Grimm Up North Film Festival and received a DVD release on February 11, 2014 through Level 33. The story is a very loose retelling of the

Book of Job The Book of Job (; hbo, אִיּוֹב, ʾIyyōḇ), or simply Job, is a book found in the Ketuvim ("Writings") section of the Hebrew Bible (Tanakh), and is the first of the Poetic Books in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible. Scholars ar ...

. The film had a predominantly negative reception.

Plot

An eager and nameless new priest is sent to a small village to serve as their resident priest, but he is unaware that he is the basis of a bet between the Almighty and the Withstander, with his soul as the prize. This bet is put into action when he is turned into a vampire. He then has to find a way to not only battle his craving for blood, but also rid the area of crime and save the life of the prostitute Tracy.

Cast

Stuart Brennan Stuart Brennan (born 8 October 1982) is a BAFTA-winning British actor, playwright, producer and director. He is an advocate for independent film, helping set up and establish film festivals across the world. Early life and education He was ...

as The Reverend *

Tamer Hassan Tamer Hassan (born 18 March 1968) is a British actor. He is best known for his role as the leader of the Millwall firm, opposite Danny Dyer, in '' The Football Factory''. Hassan has also appeared in ''Batman Begins'', Declan O'Brien's '' Wrong ...

as Harold Hicks *

Rutger Hauer Rutger Oelsen Hauer (; 23 January 1944 – 19 July 2019) was a Dutch actor. In 1999, he was named by the Dutch public as the Best Dutch Actor of the Century. Hauer's career began in 1969 with the title role in the Dutch television series ' ...

as Withstander *

Doug Bradley Douglas William Bradley (born 7 September 1954) is an English actor and author, best known for his role as the lead Cenobite "Pinhead" in the ''Hellraiser'' film series and for narration on various Cradle of Filth albums. He is also starri ...

as Reverend Andrews *

Giovanni Lombardo Radice Giovanni Lombardo Radice (born 23 September 1954, Rome, Italy) is an Italian film actor, better known to audiences as John Morghen. He first began his career in theater before he starred in Ruggero Deodato's ''The House on the Edge of the Park'' ...

as Almighty *

Emily Booth Emily Katherine Booth (born 26 April 1976), also known by her stage name Emily "Bouff" Bouffante, is an English actress and television presenter. Early life Booth was born 26 April 1976 in Chester, Cheshire, growing up in Hastings, East Susse ...

as Tracy * Simon Phillips as Detective * Marcia Do Vales as Girl *

Shane Richie Shane Patrick Paul Roche (born 11 March 1964), known as Shane Richie, is a British actor, comedian, television presenter and singer. Following initial success as a stage and screen performer, he became best known for his portrayal of the charac ...

as Prince * Mads Koudal as Viking * Edmund Kingsley as Thug *

Helen Griffin Helen Griffin (1958 – 29 June 2018) was a Welsh actress, playwright and screenwriter. Born in Swansea, Wales, she appeared regularly in Welsh theatre and television and wrote and starred in the 2005 film ''Little White Lies''. She also appear ...

as Mrs. Jenkins *

Dominic Burns Dominic Burns (born 30 December 1983) is an English film director, screenwriter, producer and actor. After starting as an actor, Burns then moved into directing where he has made his name. When making such films as '' Airborne'' and ''UFO'' he f ...

as 'Big' Bazza * Billy Rumbol as Ryan *

Richie Woodhall Richie Woodhall (born 17 April 1968) is a British former professional boxer who competed from 1990 to 2000. He held the WBC super-middleweight title from 1998 to 1999, as well as the Commonwealth middleweight title from 1992 to 1995, and th ...

as Inspector Rodin

Reception

Critical reception for ''The Reverend'' has been predominantly negative. Much of the criticism centered around the film's plot, as most reviewers felt that the movie did not live up to its full potential. ''

Twitch Film Screen Anarchy, previously known as Twitch Film or Twitch, is a Canadian English-language website featuring news and reviews of mainly international, independent and cult films. The website was founded in 2004 by Todd Brown. In addition to films, ...

'' panned the film and commented that "''The Reverend'' is that rare beast, in other words, a terrible film that thinks it's onto a winner; if you want to see how terrible, then go right ahead, but everyone else should stay well away." ''

Shock Till You Drop Shock may refer to: Common uses Collective noun *Shock, a historic commercial term for a group of 60, see English numerals#Special names * Stook, or shock of grain, stacked sheaves Healthcare * Shock (circulatory), circulatory medical emerg ...

'' also gave a negative review and stated that the film's cast was wasted, as "You can have a star in the film in a two minute scene and have them steal the show. That doesn’t happen here." '' Starburst'' gave a mixed review, stating that while the movie was "ultimately scuppered by its lack of focus and the fact that it’s way too ambitious for both its budget and the capabilities of its director" it "isn’t a disaster of biblical proportions and can charitably be filed under ‘interesting failure.'"

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Reverend, The (film) 2011 films 2011 horror films British vampire films Films based on the Hebrew Bible Book of Job 2010s English-language films Films directed by Neil Jones 2010s British films