Apocalyptic thrillers have been with us for a little longer than 2,000 years.
Instigating Jesus' second coming or preventing the Antichrist from gaining control of the world forever might not be fresh storylines, but directors Lee Roy Kunz and Monticello-raised Cru Ennis have adjusted the formula in an intriguing, unsettling manner.
What if the embodiments of good and evil arrived at the same time?
In "Deliver Us," Denver native Kunz plays Father Daniel Fox, a priest who is thinking of giving up on his calling. While the cleric has managed to help parishioners when neither psychologists nor exorcists could do any good, he's fallen in love with a woman and wants to be a responsible father and husband.
His expertise is still needed because a tormented Russian nun named Sister Yulia (Maria Vera Ratti) is pregnant and claims the twins she's carrying are the Second Coming and the Antichrist, respectively. Even after birth, it's more than a little tricky to tell which bundle of joy is the Prince of Peace and which is the Prince of Darkness.
"I think so much is focused on the evil part of it, and in making this horror film, we definitely wanted to have the positive aspects and have that element of hope come through," Kunz says over Zoom.
"Cru's a Christian filmmaker; I'm a Catholic filmmaker, and we wanted that to be the heart and soul of it. You've got to have the good with the bad."
Ennis, a University of Arkansas alumnus, adds: "We wanted to examine the Biblical themes. In doing that, we wanted to treat violence with honesty, but we wanted to show how beautiful forgiveness is and love."
In capturing the gore and the beauty, both directors are quick to thank producer-cinematographer Isaac Bauman (M. Night Shyamalan's Apple TV+ series "Servant" and Marvel's "Loki"). His ability to capture the winter scenery in the film's Estonian locations and create a sense of spiritual dread helped widen the film's range of discussion.
The movie even includes Zoroastrian prophecies into the main story. The monotheistic religion originated in what's now Iran and predates Judaism, Christianity and Islam. There are still practitioners of the faith, and the most famous person raised in the tradition was probably Queen frontman Freddie Mercury.
Ennis explained, "A lot of these themes are implemented in the film the way that someone who might not be interested learning these ideals of humanity. That was definitely a big topic of conversation between us and Isaac because Isaac's Jewish. Because of our background it allowed us to do that."
Setting the film in Russia and Estonia is another unusual touch. Catholics are a minority there, while one is more likely to encounter them in Italy, where "The Omen" is set, the filmmakers are also quick to note that the Baltic nation is secular. Repurposing buildings to pass as churches or convents took some initiative.
"Our monastery was actually a vodka distillery," Kunz says.
"We had an incredible production designer, Anna-Liisa Liiver. She built a lot of these rooms that are in our story, and we had a low budget film. She did this on her own time because she loved the premise and the people we were working with," Ennis adds.
On the plus side, filming in the former Soviet Republic offered some advantages conventional locations might not have.
Ennis explained, "A lot of our movies are based on Lee Roy's extensive knowledge of literary classics. It was during covid, so we had free reign. We got any location we wanted it. Aesthetically, it fits because it's cold and barren, with a couple of weeks of sunshine."
Kunz, who wrote the script with his brother Kane, adds, "I've always been fascinated with Dostoevsky and read everything, so I've always gravitated to toward Russia. And then we realized Estonia is actually the least religious place in the world."
"Deliver Us" features "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" star Alexander Siddig as an Italian Cardinal and German actor Thomas ("The Pianist") Kretschmann as the frighteningly determined Father Saul. In "Deliver Us" and other roles, Kretschmann often makes vivid impression without saying much of anything onscreen.
While the script offered him plenty of chances to speak, Kretschmann leaned into his core strength.
"He must do that in every film he's in because he would sit me down over a beer, and he would try to just get rid of his dialogue," Kunz says. "I don't know if he just didn't want to learn his lines of if he's like 'I can do this better with my body.'"
"(Siddig) is like a classical actor where he has the whole script memorized and comes in with questions way before production starts," Ennis says. "He helped us in ways that normally an actor in our experience wouldn't. It's just like telling us things that we didn't need to do or things that he could do to add to it. We ran out of time with him, and he would stay and help."
When asked about playing opposite seasoned pros, Kunz, who holds his own, said that playing the lead was useful for the production of a film with limited resources. Ennis, Kunz and Bauman have collaborated on projects in different capacities for nearly 15 years.
"I went to film school, and that was always like my path, and then with the very first film, it was kind of out of necessity. That's how I got (talent agency) CAA and Brillstein. They said, 'You're a better actor. We need to put you in all this kind of stuff,'" Kunz says. "We probably offered 10 to 15 actors to play Father Fox. Even though they were interested, we couldn't match their quote for it."
"Nobody else embodied Father Fox like Lee Roy," Ennis says. "There's a goodness and an earnestness to him that these other actors, who were brilliant, didn't have. Just having the conduit for the audience during post (production) and throughout the photography, you have someone who knows the goal and can alter and enhance if needed because you're on the same page."
If "Deliver Us" has received any blessings, it might be the release date. The movie opens today in Arkansas and in theaters across the nation because of the actors strike that has sidelined some big releases from the major studios represented by Alliance of Motion Picture and Television Producers (AMPTP).
The writers ended their strike Wednesday, but the strikes did not affect Magnolia/Magnet, the distributor of "Deliver Us." It is not part of AMPTP, so Kunz could freely promote his own movie without violating the terms of the strike.
"It's an awful thing that it has been going on, but it created a window for our project to get seen by a lot more people than it might have from the get go," Ennis says. "We support both unions and what's happening right now, and I think independent film is leverage for artists against studio control."
Sacred and profane: Catholic filmmaker Lee Roy Kunz and Christian filmmaker Cru Ennis teamed up to direct the unrated and religious “Deliver Us,” about a nun in a remote Estonian convent who believes she has immaculately conceived twin boys: one the Messiah, the other the Antichrist.