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Overall Rating : 5.5/10
Directed By : Daniel Myrick
Johnny Messner (Anacondas: The Hunt for Blood Orchid)
Jon Huertas (The Insatiable)
Deanna Russo (Rest Stop)
Saige Ryan Campbell (I Heart Huckabees)
Supplied By : Warner Home Video
Film Reviewed By : Rick L. Blalock
Date Reviewed : Oct. 16, 2007
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| PLOT While on duty, David Vaughn and Victor Hernandez, two emergency paramedics, receive a call from a young girl whose mother has lost consciousness in a deserted area, but they soon discover that the life they have to save may be their own. Kidnapped and locked in an isolated building, David tries to discover the truth behind a secret cult and their beliefs. As Victor's beliefs are challenged and the fine-line between religion and science are crossed, David must find a way to escape before "they" get him. |
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| THE REVIEW In BELIEVERS. when David and Victor, two Paramedics respond to a call at a nearby gas station, in which a woman is lying unconscious on the ground, they find more at the scene than they expected. When tending to the woman, the guys are approached by truck full of men dressed in matching attire. The mysterious men order Vic and Dave to come with them, and the take the Woman's body as well. They take them to some kind of Underground hideout in which a cult named the Qauntra Group conducts their studies. Headed by a mysterious man only as "The Teacher" the group believes that in a matter of days the world will cease to exist and only The Teacher has a way out. They collectively believe that The Teacher has the formula in which would lead them to their new world on the other side of the Universe. Ultimately the cult sees their actions as their way of escaping the end of the world, but others would see it as torturous suicide, can David and Victor find a way out, and if they do, could their be any truth as to what the cult believes? BELIEVERS happens to be the third film released under Warner's Raw Feed label, and while I did not enjoy it as much as the first effort, REST STOP, it is miles and miles ahead of the bomb known as SUBLIME, which was the second release. The film starts out with one of our Paramedics, David receiving the knows that he is a soon to be father of a young son. This serves as sort of an anchor to get us to care for his well being, right before the film turns into the dark and gritty film, it would be the rest of the way. The cult members in this film presented to us a group of strangely intelligent people, yet their ideas and actions are so bizarre that they make this film a frightening one. To make a truly frightening film, first and foremost the characters all should be believable and that they are. The writers could've easily painted an easy picture of a generic cult whose actions are overly exaggerated, but they chose otherwise and made them dangerous by association is you will. Since we don't know what exactly what their motives are, it makes them more creepy in every since of the word just by us not knowing what they are thinking in their seemingly brainwashed minds. The best thing about BELIEVERS, that keeps you watching is just as we don't know what they are thinking, we never know what they'll do next - which us, the viewer stick in there just to see how it will all come together. This is mainly due to the film's fairly strong performances - Johnny Messner(David) and Jon Huertas (Victor) produce a "best friend-like" bond that was believable, while Erik Passoja offers a rather creepy performance as IO, whom is basically the "spokesperson" for the cult. With BELIEVERS, Director Daniel Myrick gives us a story of what life may be like within a cult, making them easily as intelligent as they are disturbing, and just when we think the film will end with the most predictable outcome, he hits us with yet another rather shocking ending, much like the ones that that have ended his previous films. | ||||
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| GORE
METER N/A No gore - this is mainly a psychologically driven film, there's really no need for it. |
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| MUSICAL
SCORE 2.5/10 There wasn't much of a score here, it was mostly consisted of ambient overtones. |
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| OVERALL
IMPRESSION OF THE FILM I really liked the plot for BELIEVERS and thought it to be at least different than most films that have been released recently. The plot is interesting, and keeps you guessing, there are a few minor instances where it starts to become a little dull, but it's not enough to ruin the film entirely. |
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