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-

Back when this hit theaters, I missed it for some reason - I think the ad campaign left me rather nonplussed. In any case, I gave it a miss, only to take the chance on it some years later on video. And I have to say I was impressed! This is NOT a movie for the impatient viewer. Opening with family tragedy, it then takes necessary time to introduce its characters, really introduce them and give the audience time to get to know them and care about them. During the "character study" portion, there are only rare implications that something sinister is in the offing.

Other reviews have stated that the movie is slow, that it drags, that it's padded out with perhaps unnecessary exposition, but I must disagree - to believe THE BELIEVERS, one must "believe" a bit oneself. A film that drops the viewer into a breakneck chase from the outset has its place and its advantages in storytelling, but almost invariably such movies are about the chase, rather than the people. THE BELIEVERS is about the people, which separates it from the typical batch of "supernatural thrillers". Here we get the whole story, rather than a sort of synopsis, wherein we get only the "high points", those scenes which contain the most action or gore or both. TOTAL RECALL is an excellent example of this type of film, done well; one need only look at any of the horror/slasher franchise films to have an idea of this type of film done at a dead run, for money and the most shock value. They can be fun, but I'm not sure they qualify as art.

What makes THE BELIEVERS so disturbing is that, at its best, it *builds belief* in the audience. This might seem redundant, since, going in, we demonstrate a willingness to believe that is initially missing from the main charter(s); but in this case, we no longer have the emotional distance to simply watch and say, "Oh, I saw that coming," or "Blah - never in a million years." By the time Helen Shaver goes through her ordeal with that unsightly blemish, nothing about it seems far-fetched at all! Performances are, generally, successful. Young Harley Cross is excellent as young Chris, and the rest of the cast is populated with familiar faces or faces that were destined to become very familiar indeed, such as Jimmy Smits. My sole complaint comes from certain scenes with Martin Sheen - emotionally, he goes from conversation to screaming in an instant, and it just doesn't seem appropriate to the scene, especially when one considers that he's playing a psychiatrist - a professional group who are specifically trained in keeping their cool in the heat of a situation. Some of the dialog, too, occasionally comes out sounding like they shot the rehearsal.

THE BELIEVERS is not without flaw - nevertheless, enough good remains that it rewards the patient viewer with a rich storytelling experience!

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").

Cal Jamison (Martin Sheen) loses his wife in an accidental electrocution. He moves with his son Chris to NYC as a psychiatrist for the police department. Jessica Halliday (Helen Shaver) is their landlady. His lawyer Marty Wertheimer (Richard Masur) wants to sue the coffeemaker company. Lt. McTaggert (Robert Loggia) investigates a child murder with disturbed undercover cop Tom Lopez (Jimmy Smits) at the scene. Lopez is convinced that some unknown group will kill him and tries to shoot himself. Cal is called in to investigate the voodoo murder. Palo (Malick Bowens) is the ever present voodoo evil. Cal's housekeeper tries to protect the family with her good voodoo.

The use of religion is going to anger some people and color some reviews. I guess almost any movie can cause offense if taken that way. It starts off as a crime thriller. It seems to go slowly but methodically. Then it turns more towards horror and it's quite effective. There are some good voodoo horrors. The two hours running time is a little long but it's got some good creepy scares.

***SPOILERS*** Moving to New York City with his nine year old son Chris,Darley Cross, after his wife Lisa, Janet Laine Green, died in a tragic electrical accident psychiatrist Cal Jamison, Martin Sheen, got a job in the New York Police Department as a special therapist for cop's who have deep emotional problem's, that in many cases could lead to suicide.

Called to a deserted theater to talk a cop out of killing himself Cal get's his first taste of what was to happen to him his son Chris and to almost everyone else he knows by the time the movie "The Believers" is over. Officer Tom Lopez, Jimmy Smits, has become suicidal after finding this young boy skinned alive and murdered, on an altar at the theater, as well as having his police badge being stolen by those who committed this ghastly crime. Lopez is terrified that he'll be the next victim with his badge, like a voodoo doll, having a hex put on it by the boys killers.

Taken away to a psychiatric ward for observation Lopez later escapes and in a last act of desperation calls Cal for help but commits Harri Kari before Cal and the police can come to his rescue. Martin together with NYPD Let. McTarggert, Robert Loggia, go to this drug rehabilitation center where Lopez worked as a youth counselor on his off time. Meeting with the center's director Oscar Sezine, Raul Davila, it becomes obvious that Lopez and Sezine, both practitioners of Santeria, were being used as dupes for what the center was only a front for the practice of Brujeria,Spanish for witchcraft. Those oculists running the center were secretly using the youths there in their blood and murder rituals.

The A.C.H.E Drug Rehibilitation Center was founded by this rich weirdo Robert Calder, Harris Yulin, together with his spiritual adviser the even weirder Polo, Malick Bowens, an African Shaman Priest. Getting the pesky Lopez out of the way, by having him kill himself, these blood-worshipers were now ready to commit a series of murders of young boys to usurer in the Summer Solstice, June 21, which is a major holiday in their, Brujeria, religion.

Polo taking Let. McTaggert's NYPD business card, that he gave Sezine, and putting a hex on it causes him to go off the deep end and later blow his brains out. Cal's girlfriend Jessica, Helen Shaver, later at a party, and fund raiser for the A.C.H.E Center,in Calder's honor has her powder puff spiked, by Polo, where she develops a large blistering infection on her face that almost kills her. Cal's maid Carman(Carla Pinza), also a Santeriaist, feels that this Brujeria cult is after his son Chris and tries to protect him, with a number of Santeria rituals. Cal misunderstood what Carman is doing fires her thus leaving Chris, and himself, to face these dangerous and blood thirsty blood-worshipers maniacs all by themselves.

Cal is then tricked into leaving Chris with his long time friends the Maslows Dennis & Kate, Lee Richardson & Elizabeth Wilson, at their summer home in the country not realizing that their members of this blood cult who in fact sacrificed their own son some 40 years ago to it and now want him to do the same with Chris!

Disturbing and creepy movie that gets a bit off course at the very end with what looks like an alternative ending, in 1987 before they became popular on video and DVD movies,that suggests that a sequel to "The Belivers" is soon to follow, it didn't.