- Directed by Chuck Konzelman, Cary Solomon
- Written by Chuck Konzelman, Cary Solomon
- Stars Sean Patrick Flanery, Jordan Belfi, Tom Ohmer
- Run Time: 1 Hour, 37 Minutes
- Trailer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=txwrLGAL7Sg
Spoiler-Free Judgment Zone
This was very hit and miss. The performance from Sean Patrick Flanery was amazing, and Jordan Belfi kept up with him. The basics of the script is interesting. There are some chilling moments. But there’s a lot of just two guys sitting in a room talking. There are several plot points that don’t work like that in the real world. And there’s a wrap-up scene that neither of us enjoyed.
Spoilery Synopsis
Dr. Fischer writes something in a book, straightens his MD certificate on the wall, and then leaves. We next see him jump off the roof of his office tower as credits roll.
It’s the day of Edward Wayne Brady’s scheduled execution, and there are many protestors outside the prison. Dr. James Martin arrives to evaluate Brady before the execution. The warden offers to let him just sign off and go home, but Martin wants to do it right, shame about Dr. Fischer’s death, but they aren’t going to delay the execution again.
The warden says Brady is a master manipulator and a genius; he’s sure to try and convince Martin that he’s insane so that he won’t be executed. All the guards leave the cell, leaving Brady and Martin alone together in a room.
Brady already knows all about Martin’s background. Brady says he made Fischer commit suicide. He wants Martin to write his story. He says he’s a demon and cannot really die. He name is “Nefariamos” or “Nefarious” for short. He’s twitchy, fast-talking, and crazy-looking.
Brady says that before Martin leaves today, he will have committed three murders. He describes the stages of his possession of Brady. His work with Brady is done, and he wants to be executed. He won’t die, but Brady will. Martin calls in a chaplain for insight, since he’s an atheist.
Brady gives a whole diatribe against atheists like Martin. A light bulb explodes overhead. “Probably just a coincidence,” Nefarious says. Father Louis comes in, and Brady isn’t happy to see him. Louis doesn’t believe in demons either, but he also doesn’t stay long.
Martin wants proof that Brady’s a demon. Nefarious wants Martin to “invite him in.” Martin, still an atheist, tells him to go right ahead and possess him. Nefarious lets the real Brady talk, and he says he didn’t want to kill anyone, the demon forced him to.
Brady, back to being Nefarious, says Martin killed his own mother; it was a medically-assisted suicide ten years ago. That was Martin’s first murder; two to go. Martin still thinks that Brady has a dissociative disorder. The two talk about theology for a long while.
Martin says that he thinks that Brady believes all this and is mentally incompetent and unfit for execution. Brady argues with him; he wants to be executed. Brady asks Martin about his girlfriend’s planned abortion; he says sacrificing babies has always been a thing. That’s two murders. Martin calls his girlfriend on the phone to tell her to stop, but she’s already gone in for her abortion.
Martin is sad and talks to the warden. The warden points out that Martin only has one more hour with the prisoner. How did Brady know about the abortion?
Brady talks about modern slavery and about how evil humanity already is. Brady wants Martin to write the book of his life, a dark gospel. Some guards come in and pull Martin out of the room; the warden has found a scrapbook journal in Brady’s cell that has pictures of Martin as a child; he knows everything about him through all his life. There’s also Brady’s dark gospel book, fully written. The warden gives Martin an incentive to sign the papers on Brady.
Brady uses those too long restraint chains to his advantage and tries to strangle Martin. There are four or five guards in the room who do nothing until after Brady lets him go. Martin signs the papers that Brady is completely sane and competent to be executed. That’s the third murder, just like Nefarious said.
The warden recommends that Martin just go home, but he wants to watch the execution. There are the usual execution preparations, and they take Brady to the electric chair.
Martin watches as Brady makes his final statement. The clock winds down and they throw the switch. Twice.
Martin hears in his head, “You should have accepted my offer,” and starts twitching. He grabs a detective’s gun and holds everyone at bay. He tries to kill himself, but the gun doesn’t fire. The police tackle him.
One year later, Martin appears on the Glen Beck show. He’s written a book about Brady, rewriting the dark gospel as a warning to humanity instead of what Nefarious had in mind. He tells his story, but there was nothing wrong with the gun or bullets– it must be a miracle!
Commentary
This isn’t how an execution works. They wouldn’t do a mental evaluation hours before the execution; that would have been done long before. Also, they don’t execute people at a secret time of day, it’s always heavily publicized. The chains holding Brady’s hands to the table were way too long, and that became a plot point. Kevin came up with all this before the five-minute point. There are a lot of factual problems with this one. Would they have allowed a detective to carry a gun into the execution?
I’ve heard this film called religious propaganda. It certainly makes a number of anti-abortion arguments among the less-obvious things but (ignoring the epilogue) it wasn’t much more religious than, say, “The Exorcist.”
Sean Patrick Flanery acts his heart out between his two personalities. It’s good in the beginning, but it gets very old, very fast. By the twenty-five minute point, I was looking at my watch. It’s like a play, set in a single room with two guys making speeches at each other. The segment with the execution was pretty brutal and realistic.
And who actually decided that Glen Beck, of all people, would play the voice of reason in the end? The whole final segment, with the interview, was unnecessary and boring.