Les envoûtés

A widowed therapist (Martin Sheen) moves back to New York City to find himself assisting the NYPD in a series of slayings linked to a Caribbean Voodoo-like cult. Things get worse when he discovers they want his son for a human sacrifice. Helen Shaver plays his landlord and possible romantic interest.

"The Believers" (1987) is an adult-oriented crime drama that gets increasingly horrific. The plot and tone are akin to "Wolfen" (1981), albeit with the brujería cult replacing the super-wolves. It's leagues superior to the similar "The Serpent and the Rainbow" (1988).

The diabolic angle makes for some ugliness (e.g. death due to electric shock, suicides, grisly sacrifices, snakes and creepy arachnids), but there are rays of light as well. Sheen is outstanding as the protagonist while Shaver offers her wares to the table. The shocking spider sequence was later ripped off by "Urban Legends: Bloody Mary" (2005).

The movie runs 1 hour, 44 minutes, and was shot in New York City & Toronto.

GRADE: B-

Widowed police psychiatrist (Martin Sheen) and his young son (Harley Cross) move to NYC and get involved with a cult that believes in human sacrifices--small children especially.

Exceptionally well-made, deadly serious horror film is not for everybody. It's way too long, has some very disturbing scenes (quick closeups of a dead child's mutilated body; animal sacrifice) and it's serious tone can wear one down. Still, it's a complex, one of a kind horror film. Name all the major studio films that deal with cults, voodoo and children sacrifices--there aren't any! It's surprising this even got made.

Sheen is very good as the father, Cross is exceptional as his son. Also Robert Loggia turns in strong support as a police chief. The only bad acting is by Helen Shaver as a landlady who Sheen falls for (for some reason). Also there's a pretty needless ending.

All in all though, a good horror film, but remember--it's STRONG stuff!

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").

After his wife dies, police psychiatrist Cal Jamison (Martin Sheen) moves with his son, Chris (Harley Cross), from Minnesota to New York City. There, he quickly becomes embroiled in a bizarre string of occult-related murders of children and apparent suicides of adults.

If you enjoyed The Serpent And The Rainbow (1988), Angel Heart (1987) and Rosemary's Baby (1968), there's a good chance you'll enjoy The Believers as well, as it bears quite a few similarities (although it's certainly not a rip-off). In my view, it's not quite as good as those other three films, which are all 10s in my book, but it is well worth watching.

The principle flaw, which probably arises from trying to condense a novel--in this case Nicholas Conde's book, The Religion--into a screenplay, is that The Believers quickly brushes over some developments so that it's occasionally difficult to follow, especially towards the beginning. We can sense that there's much more to the story but that there just isn't time to show all of it to us.

However, a characteristic of the subgenre of occult/voodoo horror films is a prominent surrealism and dream-like narrative flow, so what might be more of a flaw in another kind of film can be more of an asset here. The Believers also benefits from a great cast--Sheen is a delight to watch (and listen to) as a psychiatrist who can fly off the handle in rage at the drop of a hat, and Jimmy Smits is wonderfully insane every time we see him.

The Believers is also worth checking out for its cinematography and set design. The set for the climax is a visual treat and integral to the plot. And the tag scene after the climax is remarkable for its visual change--beautiful, wide-open spaces and bright colors. It's just too bad that the sequel set up by director John Schlesinger never came to fruition.

The Believers can be viewed as an exposition of believers of anything. The primary object of the movie is the religion Santeria and the practitioners of that religion but, the underlying thread is that any fanatical and misguided believers in any religion are the same.

The black magic brand of Santeria practitioners weren't the only Santerians in the movie. There were others who were far less dangerous, even if their customs and ceremonies were strange. The understanding though is that in every religion there are probably messages or passages that are misunderstood by the fanatics and they end up doing extreme actions in the name of said religion.

The Believers goes deep into the black magic aspect of Santeria. By pure happenstance Cal Jamison (Martin Sheen) and his family get wrapped into that world. The movie is eerie and suspenseful as we are navigated through this strange religious world.