Acolytes

Excellent little film that slow burns into a final act fire worthy of the wait. We begins with a seemingly subtle teenage angst drama, you have 3 obviously "touched" teens, 1 girl and 2 boys whom you quickly determine are all awash with personal problems, anger issues, sullen introvert melancholy, over sexualized acting out and reckless disregard for their own safety...not a good mix when a bully who abused the 2 boys years earlier is now out on parole and none the improved citizen. Despite this he seems to have no interest in bothering them, that doesn't erase the grudge they carry. This comes into play when one of the boys witnesses a man in the woods burying something. The 3 teens decide to come back thinking it could be money or drugs only to discover a body, but NOT the body fo the local girl that has been missing (Whom many believe the bully was responsible for her disappearance). When the 3 teens discover that the bully is NOT, and that instead a local serial killer whom has been work in the area for who knows how long is none to happy when these teens make the brilliant (not) decision to blackmail a serial killer to rid them of the bully, considering their own personal revenge more important than the evil they have decided to blackmail one supposes. Needless to say things don't go well, basically turning into a pretty tense, anxious and properly frightening slasher film in many aspects. Add in the final act's well hidden and quite shocking TWISTS and what appeared to be a mediocre thriller turned into a WTF horror movie with slasher overtones. I was quite impressed with the cinematography, the acting and the twists which I failed to see coming, considering my quite extensive film collection that is not an easy task for a movie to accomplish...I am pleased to say this one did. VERY glad I bought it and have it in my collection.

Acolytes is an Australian thriller, labelled an "Ozploitation" flick I'm still not 100% clear on what an exploitation flick truly is.

It tells the story of a group of friends who blackmail a serial killer. Of course what could possibly go wrong there? It pretty much writes itself.

The movie isn't bad, it just feels a tad disjointed and when the credits rolled there were still a couple of rather important plot points that hadn't been fully addressed and that's really rather frustrating.

Starring Joel Edgerton in a career best performance as our antagonist this neat little thriller looks and sounds the part so it saddens me to say it didn't even remotely meet its potential.

Perfectly watchable stuff but it just missed the mark a tad. I'm left feeling like if the film had an additional 30 minutes it could have been something special but this finished product feels like a book with a couple of chapters ripped out.

Credit to all involved including the young cast, but it just didn't tick all the boxes for me.

The Good:

Decent soundtrack

Hanna Mangan Lawrence and Joel Edgerton

The Bad:

Couple of unanswered questions

Feels disjointed in places

Things I Learnt From This Movie:

The death of his wife clearly pushed Ned Flanders over the edge

Australian teens are naturally more obnoxious than any other nationality!

This is not truly a horror, more of a slasher variation. Three teens stumble upon a serial killer. They decide to not call the police. That about settles it right there and then. About one hour more of absurd behaviour and thinking and the movie ends.

The film had its good parts, mainly the relationship between the three teens and the psychological tension at the end. The middle, however, was pretty damn annoying, especially the flashbacks at twice the sound volume that instead of frightening me were making me fast forward.

Bottom line: some Australian movies are very good. This is not one of them. I rate it slightly below average because of the premise. Could have been a lot better with a minimum of effort.

This is a small but nicely filmed dark Australian thriller. As is the case with many Australasian films it never worries about veering away from the predictable and this makes for an absorbing film. It follows 3 teenagers who happen to find a dead body and knowing who the killer is attempt to bribe him to help them with a local thug.

I found this film grabbed my attention from the start helped by good believable performances from the 3 young leads. They are backed up well by Joel Edgerton, who has recently made it big thanks to his role in the excellent 'Warrior', and who really shines in this as the creepy local psychopath.

It's a pretty grim story but never less than compelling and builds an impressive amount of tension as the film nears it's climax. This is a chilling and bleak film and whilst it's no classic I was surprised at just how good it was.

A very impressive effort which is well worth more than one viewing.

What starts off as a sleepy drama about a damaged psyche turns into a fast-paced, terrifying, and entirely believable horror film. The filmmakers don't coddle the audience and don't dwell on the plot twists; that is to say, if you're not paying attention, you'll miss some key points. There were a couple scenes where I had to rewind and explain parts to my friends. This movie was visually compelling, and the young actors and actress did great jobs conveying their anger, fear, depression, and angst. So I was never able to pinpoint what my problem with this movie was. I'm not sure if it's the slow pace or the resolution at the end, but I ended up feeling disappointed with the directors. This movie could (and should) have been much more.