Director Gareth Evans is perhaps best known for helming The Raid and The Raid 2, but he’s going in another direction for the upcoming Apostle, a horror film available only on Netflix. In trailer commentary Nerdist is happy to exclusively debut, Evans says he wanted to do something that felt very different from The Raid movies. Apostle isn’t heavy on action; instead it creeps up on the audience and builds tension–they tried to achieve this by using more classical cinematography. The creepy cult tale has strong roots in British cinema’s folk horror such as The Wicker Man and Witchfinder General. Hear about the influences from Evans himself:

Set in the early 1900s, the film centers on Thomas Richardson (Dan Stevens) as he attempts to rescue his sister from a religious cult. Does that ever go well? Michael Sheen‘s Prophet Malcolm has a grip on said cult and doesn’t seem to appreciate Thomas nosing around in his business. Things appear to get weird.

Evans explains in the commentary the film has a couple of ritualistic moments that feature devices. To match the overall rustic aesthetic of the film, those devices were made from wood and steel. Seeing the designs of the devices come to life on set was, as Evans says, “quite terrifying.” Those two words seem to capture the vibe of the entire film.

Will you be watching Apostle when it debuts on Friday, October 12? Let us know in the comments.

Image: Netflix

Amy Ratcliffe is the Managing Editor for Nerdist and the author of Star Wars: Women of the Galaxy (pre-order it on Amazon). Follow her on Twitter.