Director: Cary Solomon, Chuck Konzelman
Hours before a scheduled execution, a prison psychiatrist is sent in for one last competency evaluation, only to spend the session locked in a battle of wits with a condemned man who insists he isn't the one talking.
What is Nefarious about?
Dr. James Martin arrives at the prison expecting a routine, if grim, formality: confirm that Edward Wayne Brady is mentally fit to be put to death that same night. Brady has other plans. Calm, articulate, and unnervingly patient, he tells Martin that his body is currently occupied by something that has no interest in being executed, and that it intends to walk out using Martin's own doubts as the door. What follows plays out almost entirely inside one small room, as the conversation shifts from clinical questions to something closer to an interrogation running in reverse. Martin's certainty erodes a little more with every exchange, while outside the clock keeps moving toward the scheduled time on death row. The film keeps its focus tight on the two men across the table, letting suspicion, faith, and a string of impossible details do the work instead of jump scares.
Cast & crew
Sean Patrick Flanery plays the composed, disquieting Brady with a stillness that carries most of the film's tension, while Jordan Belfi takes on Dr. Martin, the psychiatrist whose professional detachment is tested scene by scene. Stelio Savante, Tom Ohmer, and Cameron Arnett fill out the supporting roles surrounding the two central performances.
Context & significance
Directors Cary Solomon and Chuck Konzelman, working from a screenplay they adapted themselves, built the film around a single confined setting and a two-hander structure, a choice that keeps the runtime brisk at under an hour and twenty minutes. Released in 2023, it belongs to a small run of horror films that lean on dialogue and dread rather than effects-heavy set pieces.
Where & how to watch
Nefarious streams on K-Time with a free account login, and the page can be browsed without signing in first. Persian dubbing and Persian subtitles are both available, and the full K-Time experience is designed around Farsi-speaking viewers in the diaspora.