Priest is a 2011 American action horror movie directed by Scott Stewart. Based loosely on a Korean horror comic Priest by Min-Woo Hyung, it follows a veteran priest who breaks his vows to investigate a vampire attack outside of a walled city that was built due to human and vampire war that went on for years. Below is my Priest (2011) movie review
The movie had a production budget of 67 million. It was filmed in California. There were desert shots as well as sound stages where a lot of the action took place. One of the sets that were built was a labyrinth of mazes that were supposed to represent vampire hive. Another chunk of the money went into special effects involving vampires.
Due to them being fast and absolutely brutal in their attacks, most of them were done with CGI. They spent most of their life in caves making them photosensitive due to being albinos as opposed to modern day vampires that hate sunlight. According to the director, they also have a language and a type of a culture that we humans don’t understand. There are also different types such as drones, guardians, and a queen.
In the movie there is an animated sequence that explains the war between humans and vampires. It dwells into how Priests became super warriors for the church and were cast aside once the war has ended. This sequence was done due to the studio not wanting to put more money into a large-scale war of humans and vampires. Animation was a good compromise and it looks very well done.
When the movie opened in theaters, many critics slammed it for being overall stylish but grounded in a cliche territory. This type of a reception means the sequel for the movie in the near future is probably not going to happen – even though many people loved this movie.
The movie was filmed in 2D but was later converted to 3D, which was IMO a mistake. If possible, find the 2D version that is unrated, which will be more bloody. This is one of those movies that the studio wanted to make PG-13 for some reason to reach a wider audience, even though the movie is about blood thirsty vampires that kill anybody in their path.
Thanks for reading my Priest (2011) movie review
