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Blu-ray Review The Believers Blu-ray Review (1 Viewer)

Matt Hough

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The Believers Blu-ray Review

Oscar-winning director John Schlesinger made a spine-tingling thriller with Marathon Man, but luck wasn’t in his corner for a later film The Believers. Despite an excellent cast of actors and some potential for a first-rate suspense thriller, the movie despite occasional bursts of genuine tension and fright inevitably degenerates into a messy mix of occult pseudo-religion, voodoo, and the supernatural. In the end, it doesn’t prove itself worthy of its director or its very hard-working actors.

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Studio: MGM

Distributed By: Twilight Time

Video Resolution and Encode: 1080P/AVC

Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1

Audio: English 2.0 DTS-HDMA

Subtitles: English SDH

Rating: R

Run Time: 1 Hr. 54 Min.

Package Includes: Blu-ray

keep case

Disc Type: BD50 (dual layer)

Region: All

Release Date: 10/14/2014

MSRP: $29.95




The Production Rating: 2.5/5

After the accidental electrocution of his wife in a freak household mishap, police psychotherapist Dr. Cal Jamison (Martin Sheen) takes his seven-year old son Chris (Harley Cross) and moves from Minneapolis to New York City. There he encounters some disturbed police officers who are involved in the investigations of a couple of grisly child ritual killings. One officer in particular Tom Lopez (Jimmy Smits) is convinced that cultists practicing Santeria have taken his badge to use in bringing him down, and when he later takes his own life and an autopsy is performed, his insides suggest that he wasn’t far from the truth. Cal discovers his housekeeper (Carla Pinza) planting safety talismans all around his son’s room for she fears he may be next on the Santeria hit list, but Cal refuses to buy into these superstitions until he starts reading up on the religion and its practices. By then, it’s too late to stop the inevitable.Just as with the main character in Rosemary’s Baby, the events that lead to the main character’s finding himself surrounded by evil and pretty much on his own take their own definite time to fall into place. Mark Frost’s screenplay is at its best in a number of surprising revelations that are kept from the viewer until the film’s last quarter hour, but it takes a bit too long to get there. There are dawdling scenes involving Cal’s romancing his landlady (Helen Shaver) and the slow acceptance of a new woman in his father’s life by the mischievous Chris (whose dash through New York City traffic is as scary as any of the ritual killings or horrific sights in the film’s deliberate horror passages). The tokens and trinkets that begin to litter the boy’s bedroom as the housekeeper tries to ward off evil seem for the longest time to escape the father’s notice, and the transporting of the cult to an under-construction office building for the final ritual killing seems like a waste of time and done only to have some pylons and rebar handy for the inevitable deaths. Schlesinger shoots well a bizarre climactic brush with this voodoo featuring Shaver’s Jessica, but the final “boo” moment seems altogether forced and rather feeble in a desperate attempt to add one final shock to the proceedings.Martin Sheen handles the domestic and professional scenes quite nicely throughout and pitches his growing realization of the terrible danger he and his son are in very well. Robert Loggia as the detective lieutenant in charge of the murder investigation offers a variation of his familiar profanity-laced career cop that’s always entertaining. Jimmy Smits in an early role is also quite believable as a man in fear of his life with his terror growing to unimaginable heights of frenzy. Helen Shaver offers a calming influence and an appealing partner for Sheen’s Cal until the evil comes calling while Harley Cross seems every inch the precocious seven-year old he’s playing on-screen. Elizabeth Wilson and Lee Richardson as archeologists who become surrogate parents for Cal in New York are full of good spirits. Harris Yulin is an enigmatic millionaire entrepreneur who figures into the plot later in the film, but Malick Bowens as the African practitioner of this dark magic would seem to be unusual enough to raise red flags long before he does. Richard Masur lends an enjoyable presence as a lawyer who practices magic in his spare time and who figures significantly into the climactic events.


Video Rating: 4.5/5 3D Rating: NA

The transfer here is framed at the theatrical 1.85:1 aspect ratio and is presented in 1080p using the AVC codec. Sharpness is quite excellent with loads of detail to be seen in close-ups. Color is nicely controlled even if Caucasian skin tones sometimes seem a bit on the rosy side. Contrast is consistently and expertly achieved. Black levels may not plumb the very depths of inkiness, but they’re very good indeed. Apart from a stray speck or two, there are no age-related artifacts to fret about. The film has been divided into 12 chapters.



Audio Rating: 4.5/5

The DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo sound mix is outstanding. Dialogue is always completely discernible, and J. Peter Robinson’s score gets a full and rich interpretation while never impeding understanding the speech. Sound effects likewise have some clout in this near-reference audio presentation.


Special Features Rating: 2.5/5

Isolated Score Track: J. Peter Robinson’s background score is presented in robust DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo.Theatrical Trailer (1:51, SD)MGM 90th Anniversary Trailer (2:06, HD)Six-Page Booklet: enclosed in the case, the booklet contains a few evocative color stills, original poster art on the back cover, and film historian Julie Kirgo’s interesting think piece on the film’s merits and lack of acceptance on its initial release.


Overall Rating: 3/5

The magic and mysticism get carried a bit to the extreme in The Believers, a film that might have had more impact with less of the black arts on display. There are only 3,000 copies of this Blu-ray available. Those interested should go to www.screenarchives.com to see if product is still in stock. Information about the movie can also be found via Facebook at www.facebook.com/twilighttimemovies.


Reviewed By: Matt Hough


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Virgoan

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Saw this in theater when it was released. It creeped me out a bit, especially a scene with spiders.
 

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