Believers

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.

After watching Myrick's "The Objective", I wanted to check out his other films that went straight to DVD and this was my first pick. The premise is interesting, two paramedics are "abducted" into a suicide cult of sorts and must get away before it's too late for them.

There's a layer of religion (also seen in movies like "Frailty") that is really the crux of the movie - which makes us question the true motives behind religious preachers, missionaries and insane cults, as well as presenting us with an atheist point of view.

The ending is the movie's strongest point, and it again poses the viewers with an important question. Myrick seems to like to ask more question than answers in his movies and "Believers" is no exception. This is a low-budget flick best seen with low expectations.

5/10

The Blair Witch Project director's thriller about two paramedics Dave and Vic (Johnny Messner and Jon Huertas) who are kidnapped by a strange cult named the Quanta Group. Led by a reclusive mastermind called The Teacher (Daniel Benzali), the cult believes they have condensed the secrets of time and the universe into a mathematical formula which proves the world is about to come to an end. The cult has no intentions of letting Dave and Vic leave, so they have to fight for their lives while trying to escape the remote compound.

The film touches interesting themes, such as the relation between God and science and the differing religious opinions of the two protagonists, but unfortunately doesn't really get anything very exciting out of the subject matter. The nature of cult membership is left unexplored, so the cultists never come across as very fascinating characters and we are left with a standard survival thriller. Even though the film avoids overt violence and instead attempts to create a feel of claustrophobia by setting the events in an underground compound and having the characters spend a significant part of the running time locked in toilet stalls, the atmosphere is nothing that hasn't been done much better in many other movies already. I would only recommend the movie to the biggest thriller fans and perhaps to those interested in mathematical mysticism.

This movie could have been excellent. it's too slow, tiresome, boring even, through the most part.

The storyline is fairly interesting, or at least could have been. A lot was left unexplained, but still not open for any interpretation.

Unclear dialog, and poor execution make this a huge miss. The surprising ending was a great attempt to save it, but unfortunately it doesn't make the other 129 minutes worth viewing.

Too bad they didn't focus more on what happened at the end, and insisted on weary us with their boring-ass plot.

5. Just for the saving grace at the end.

As one reviewer said before me, it's a low budget, not horror but more like thriller-sci-fi movie with average towards good acting.

Also there are some non-logical scenes and moves but the overall impression of the film is good.

The main theme and plot is actually a good and interesting idea... a cult religion (on the other hand contrary) based on mathematics and scientific proof that leads people to a better place. Movie would be by far better if it had more budget and effects, nevertheless it's interesting enough.

The end of the movie is a quite surprise!