Acolytes

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!

As always, a review by a horror films freak, not a professional critic nor even a cinema student.

For starters - allow me to admit that, having watched the film from beginning to end with no pauses, as the credits rolled I was left completely bewildered. As the twists occurred, I was able to realize I was in fact witnessing a twist, but not thoroughly comprehend what the twist was or what made it a twist.

As always, I came here to IMDb as soon the film had ended, and was much relieved to find out I wasn't the only one with more questions than answers... It was as if James's shirt slogan ("question everything answer nothing") was meant for this film. So after doing a little reading I was able to fully understand the plot, the twists and how they came together. All in all I'd have to say that the story was quite good and that the "bully" and "serial killer" genre clichés were collaborated in quite an original and artistic way (if somewhat unnecessary). However, the fact that I and many others found it so hard to follow and understand (whether due to poor storytelling or the extremely confusing shooting and cinematography) is a shortcoming in my book. Although I did find the cinematography, as well as the use of sound during the flashbacks, to be innovating and impressive. Some of you might find it tacky though.

Finally, I really loved the soundtrack, definitely going to look it up! So in conclusion - while this film could have been better, if you manage to look closely and carefully follow every scene you'll probably enjoy it. Won't be easy though!

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.

Just read some of the other reviews on here and I have to disagree.

First - good cinematography with some really great shots. End of story. The tripe fest that is The Descendants that was filmed in beautiful Hawaii with a much larger budget looked like a brochure. Ugh.

Second - cries of clichés, ridiculous plot twists and poor acting per reviewers. Can anyone really name a film that does not have some clichés (excludes any movie that did it first and more than 20 yrs ago). I've never seen 3 human beings sewn ass to face before, but then everyone cries how it's just for the shock value, too disgusting. Can't win either way. Poor acting from teen actors - was there room for improvement? Yes. Has anyone spent actual time around a couple of teen boys who were same sexed raped??? I'm thinking these kids are not too emotive, erratic, angry and confused with a dash of self-destruction and death obsession. I'm fine with the plot twists; kept it moving. As long as there was no cop-out dream sequence, then I'm willing to give some leeway.

ACOLYTES – CATCH IT ( B ) Acolytes is about two teenage Boys and a Girl who find a dead body in the forest and rather then telling the police, the boys plan to use the serial Killer to take their revenge from the Guy, who molested them… when they were kids. The concept of the movie is really interesting and the execution is also very enthralling. Although, in the end it became lot more Twisted than expected. Sebastian Gregory, Joshua Payne and Helena M.Lawrence make a dynamic trio. Watching them juggling through all was quite enjoyable. Joel Egerton is becoming my favorite Aussie Man, I loved him in Animal Kingdom and here he didn't have much scoop but he did creep me out through his mustache. Michael Dorman as Child Molester was pretty darn good. Overall, really good Aussie Thriller, I enjoyed it because of its story and performances by ensemble Aussie actors.