# Believers, The (1987)

### reviewed by
Hal Render

                          THE BELIEVERS

                   A film review by Hal Render

                    Copyright 1987 Hal Render

I just saw THE BELIEVERS last night. Overall impression: pretty scary. The film details the involvement of a police psychiatrist (Martin Sheen) in a string of grisly crimes which involve an ancient Caribbean religion. The pace escalates as Sheen's family become threatened, and the power of the forces against him become overwhelming. The actors are excellent (Sheen, Helen Shaver and Robert Loggia head the cast), the plot and direction are strong, and the story is quite compelling. My only complaint is the apparent cuts they made in the original story (from a book called THE RELIGION) which show up as incongruous elements in the movie. Several small things (and a few large ones) seem to be stressed in the early parts of the movie which turn out to have no real impact at the end. This could just be a case of intended misdirection, although I'll have to read the book to be sure. As for gore, the movie is discreet by current standards (some mutilated animals), though there is one scene which got to me even though I saw it coming. Definitely not for young kids. If you liked ANGEL HEART, you should like THE BELIEVERS. A +2.5 on a -4/+4 rating.

                                       Hal Render

                               render@b.cs.uiuc.edu           (ARPA)

                               render@uiuc.csnet              (CSNET)

                               {seismo,pur-ee}!uiucdcs!render (USENET)

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