Believers (2007) (V)

User Rating:

5.2/10   

Director:

Daniel Myrick

Writers:

Julia Fair (writer)
Daniel Myrick (writer)

Release Date:

16 October 2007 (USA)

Genre:

Horror | Thriller

Tagline:

Watch. Decide. Believe if you must. Resist if you dare.

Plot:

Two doctors responding to an emergency call find themselves kidnapped by a religious sect whose great obsession is to stop the end of the world by committing suicide and killing people.

Plot Keywords:

Doctor | Ambulance | Cult Leader | Female Nudity | Kidnapping

Cast

Jon Huertas	...	Victor
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Kyle Adahl	...	Sheriff
Nino Aldi	...	Local #3
June Angela	...	Mara
Daniel Benzali	...	The Teacher
Elizabeth Bogush	...	Deborah
Saige Ryan Campbell	...	Libby
Cullen G. Chambers	...	Cult Goon
Michael Childers	...	Extra Content Police Officer
Jordan Dang	...	Cult Boy
John Farley	...	Glasses
Jennie Floyd	...	Cult member
Michael Folkerds	...	IO's Goon
Michael Gregory	...	Extra Content Local #1
Carolyn Hennesy	...	Lina Vance
Charles Hirsch	...	Extra content Partner Detective
Nick Hodaly	...	Cult Member
Joe Howard	...	Older Cult Man
Rif Hutton	...	Weather Man on TV
Brian Lally	...	HazMat Truck Driver
Christopher May	...	Gas Station Attendant
Johnny Messner	...	David Vaughn
Andrew Elvis Miller	...	Cult Medic AKA Pill Guy
Marty Papazian	...	Ray
Erik Passoja	...	IO
Renda Pettis	...	Cult Nanny
Deanna Russo	...	Rebecca
Jeri Lynn Ryan	...	Extra Content Local #4
Natalie Salins	...	Extra Content Woman Detective
Richard Soto	...	Police Officer
Vitaliy Versace	...	Culd member
Dig Wayne	...	Captain Newsome
John Wesley	...	Leader

MPAA:

Rated R for language.

Runtime:

Germany:95 min | Sweden:102 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.78 : 1

Certification:

USA:R | Finland:K-15 | Australia:M | Portugal:M/16 | UK:15 | Germany:16

Filming Locations:

Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Flame Ventures

Soundtrack:

Hurricane

Slow and tedious...

With two competent leads (Johnny Messner and Jon Huertas as paramedics abducted by a cult), one fairly entrancing nemesis (Daniel Benzali as the cult leader), seeds of a good story and decent direction, one immediately thinks this movie could have been much better.

Writers Daniel Myrick, Julia Fair and Daniel Noah seem to have come up with a basic idea, without being able to elaborate the concept further. The result is a story with few interesting elements in-between its introduction and conclusion, and no rhythm whatsoever.

Details of the cult are brushed over. Viewers are probably supposed to see this as shrouded in mystery but instead, the sentiment is that the writers failed to flesh out these things. And since none of the imagery, dialog or plot element is particularly engrossing, we can't take a "mind trip" as if this was a Lynch movie either, because use symbolism in this film is weak and immature.

Director Daniel Myrick (Blair Witch Project, The Objective) has done much better in the past but here, there's simply not enough happening to sustain our attention for long. If the details were to remain that sketchy, I think this would have been better off as a sort of Twilight Zone TV episode.

I appreciate the attempt but this is Myrick's weakest movie I have seen.