Lee Eisenberg
John Schlesinger was best known for movies like "Darling", "Midnight Cowboy", "Sunday Bloody Sunday", "The Day of the Locust" and "Marathon Man". But now he directs something totally different.To understand what happens in "The Believers", it helps to have foreknowledge of Santería, a syncretic religion practiced widely in the Caribbean. It is based in the Yoruba culture (in present-day Nigeria), but includes influences from Roman Catholicism and the indigenous American cultures. The movie depicts a satanic offshoot of Santería mixed with brujería (Spanish for "witchcraft"), that is sacrificing children in New York, and is now targeting the son of Martin Sheen's character.If you expect a slasher movie, this is nothing of the sort. There is some violence, but no guts getting torn out or anything -- only one scene can truly get called shocking (you'll know it when you see it) -- and there's limited sex/nudity. I'd say that the movie's strength is its depiction of how Sheen's character slowly but surely learns about a culture with which he was previously unfamiliar. The movie does make clear that the religious cult is not Santería, but a different group. After all, every religion is bound to have its wackos.Does the movie have any downsides? Well, Robert Loggia's cop came across as a little silly, but I'd call that the only true downside. Otherwise, this is a good one. Also starring Helen Shaver, Richard Masur, Jimmy Smits and Harris Yulin (who I at first mistook for Richard Jenkins, aka Nate Sr. on "Six Feet Under").
The_Void
Voodoo is quite an interesting topic, and as such there are many movies on the topic, many of which are very good; which means that all the movies based on voodoo generally have a lot to live up to. The Believers benefits from a good cast, a reputable director and an obviously sizable budget - but unfortunately, it doesn't amount to a sum of it's parts, mostly due to the fact that a lot of it plays out rather slowly and is quite boring - which is fairly surprising considering that director John Schlesinger was the man behind classic thrillers such as Marathon Man. The film is based on a book by Nicholas Conde and focuses on a widowed father named Cal Jamison who takes his son to live in Manhattan. Cal gets a job with the New York Police Department as a psychiatrist for troubled police officers. It's on his first call out, to help save a suicidal police officer that he comes into contact with a strange cult that has skinned a child alive. From there, the film focuses on a series of strange and eerie events that all seem to focus on the people around the lead character...The main problem with this movie is undoubtedly the length of it - the director obviously assumed that there was enough material to fill the nearly two hour running time, but unfortunately that isn't the case and the result is a film with a lot of dull moments. The lead role is taken by Martin Sheen who does a good job of fleshing out his character and getting the audience behind him. This, however, is not matched by the plot - which doesn't ever do enough to get the audience fully behind it, which is a shame as there are plenty of good ideas going on in it. The film can easily be compared to the likes of Angel Heart and Rosemary's Baby - but clearly it is not even nearly on the same level as the aforementioned classics. To its credit, the film does not flinch too much when it comes to showing blood and gore - skinned kids and spiders crawling out of a woman's cheek are among the highlights. Overall, The Believers is not a complete dead loss by any means; but it's not a great film either and I wouldn't recommend anyone goes out of their way to see it.
MWNiese
I read the complaints from some of the reviews for this film on this web site and they are absolutely and completely ignorant. I'm sure these are the same people that gave "Independence Day" nine stars. Do any of these critics know how difficult it is to write screenplays let alone adapt a novel into one. This film is a wonderfully done artistic creation that relies on true acting, wonderful cinematography, excellent direction, and great screen writing. This is a quality voodoo horror film for intelligent viewers that need more than pointless deaths and nudity. Wonderfully done creation.
MarieGabrielle
Covering the subject of cults, religion, Santeria or other beliefs is always intriguing and educational. The acting especially by Martin Sheen as N.Y. psychiatrist Cal, is very good.Cal loses his wife in a tragic accident, and returns to New York City where he is a psychiatric consultant for N.Y.P.D. There are some excellent scenes with Jimmy Smits, as an affected officer who goes mad, and Robert Loggia, as a veteran cop who is also affected by the "Believers", and their group.Harris Yulin is menacing and fits the bill as leader of an 80's group, ostensibly just a charity group, until Sheen uncovers something much worse.The end is rather abrupt and predictable, but the acting is first-rate (especially for Sheen) and this is worth a viewing. The theme alone has many possibilities, the ignorance and unawareness of how many different religions actually exist, and are in practice all over the world. 9/10.
AD
