The Believer

Have you ever been to the movie theater and liked the film, but some idiots in the audience kinda spoiled everything? Because THE BELIEVER is a bit like that.

In general, I'd say that the premise and the twist aren't bad at all, the execution is solid and the pacing is good - not bad for a low-budget flick like this. But there are aspects that do their best to spoil the whole thing.

First, there is Sophie Kargman. While she does an alright job at being annoying and creepy, her mumbling delivery constantly drags you out of the movie, trying to understand what she's actually saying. It doesn't help that they apparently had no sound engineer on set, since almost all the dialogue sounds like a camera mic through too much denoiser. Honestly, the denoising is so bad that it swallows whole syllables at times. The dialogue editors even made a very audible mistake in the online video of Billy Zane giving a talk. Pretty amateurish, to be honest.

Then, there are incredibly stupid lines like "Logic is the guardian of faith" and similar pseudo-philosophical deepities. Actually, the first ten minutes were full of irrational babbling like that, making me think about aborting prematurely. Yes, pun intended.

But no, I pulled through, and once the film picks up some speed, it fares pretty well. And even if the jump scares fell flat for the most part, I still thought that at least the third act was quite compelling.

All in all, THE BELIEVER is a bit of a slow burner with a lot of a lot of pointless and stupid gum flapping in the beginning. The distracting dialogue issues are hurting the film a lot, but if you are a patient and yearning lover of the supernatural, you might find some enjoyment here.

To say its a horror film is excessive as there is more tension and mystery than horror. Having said that Sophie Kargman does a really good job of being on the edge of deranged, although you're not quite sure.

I would say its more of a thriller with overtones. I think that we have become slightly insular to "horror" in films, so it needs to be really scary to be classed as a horror film.

I am not saying that some might find it horrific in places but I am sure that most won't. This doesn't detract from the off beat strangeness of the film as you are dragged along by the storyline.

Aiden Bristow works well as a believable character and you do feel for him and yet there is that nagging feeling in the back of your mind about him.

This is one of those films that if you don't watch it all you won't get it.

I found it very watchable and wasn't disappointed but I would have liked a little more depth to the plot.

Too damn long and drawn out for me, my lord just walk out!!! Dialogue was so unnecessary....

Well. There goes 90 minutes of my life, that I will never get back. Bad acting, horrible pacing and a virtually unfollowable plot. Do not waste your time. I would have rather watched 90 minutes of the purple dinosaur Barney than this movie. Ugh.

Key elements of the plot are lost in the mumbling, unintelligible dialogue by "Sophie".