JP Nunez
If you ask me, the most fascinating thing about cults in horror movies is the unshakable influence the leaders always exert over their followers. It strikes me as profoundly irrational, but in a somewhat paradoxical way, that’s why it’s so interesting. So what would happen if you took the cult (mostly) out of a film and simply left the leader and one potential disciple? And what if this leader seemed to have legitimate supernatural powers? I don’t know about you, but that idea intrigues the hell out of me, so I was excited to check out the new cult flick Believer. It promised to tackle those very questions, and I couldn’t wait to see how it would all turn out.
Believer was written and directed by Sheldon Wilson, and it stars Lauren Lee Smith, Ella Ballentine, Peter Mooney, Martin Roach, Ilan O’Driscoll, Jonathan Potts, and Kris Holden-Ried. In the film, Marshall Grayson is a notorious cult leader who convinced all of his followers to commit heinous murders and then kill themselves. Surprisingly, he allows the police to capture him after the death of his last disciple, and unsurprisingly, he’s found guilty on over 50 counts of murder.
At his sentencing, he attacks a young writer named Kate, but before he can hurt her too badly, a police officer shoots him dead. Nevertheless, the woman is pretty banged up, and after being taken to the hospital, her brain suppresses the memory of that traumatic event. When she’s discharged, she decides to spend some time with her sister’s family as she recovers from her wounds, and during her stay there, she begins to experience terrifying nightmares, horrific visions, and some strange, potentially paranormal phenomena. It seems like Grayson is trying to convert her from beyond the grave, but then again, it could all just be in her head.
I’m not going to lie, Believer ended up being a pretty mixed bag for me, but for about the first half of its runtime, I was completely on board. The opening act jumps back and forth in time once or twice, and that immediately sets up a number of intriguing mysteries that will have you on the edge of your seat. Some of these puzzles get resolved pretty quickly, but there’s one that sticks around almost until the very end.
When Grayson attacks Kate, he whispers something in her ear, but we don’t hear what it is, and Kate can’t remember. Believer only reveals this secret in the third act, so for most of the movie, you’re wondering what this man could’ve said. Admittedly, that might not sound terribly interesting on paper, but trust me, it’s executed so well that you’ll be dying to know what Grayson’s final words were.
Then, once Kate goes to her sister’s house, this mystery grows even deeper. As I said before, the poor woman starts to experience some odd and terrifying occurrences, and that adds another layer to this enigma. Did the cult leader have supernatural powers? Was his message to Kate a sort of curse or spell? Or is it all just a result of the woman’s trauma? You simply don’t know, and you’ll be hard-pressed to get those questions out of your head.
On top of all that, the performances in Believer are excellent as well. Everybody in this cast does top-notch work, so you’ll have no trouble at all believing these characters and buying into their story. But as usual, there are a few standouts that deserve special mention. Let’s start with Ella Ballentine, the actress who plays Kate.
As the star of the show, it’s no surprise that Ballentine gets more to do than anyone else in Believer, and she gives a nearly powerhouse performance. In particular, she almost makes you feel her character’s trauma and terror yourself, so you can’t help but genuinely sympathize with this poor woman. Then, in the last 15 minutes or so, Ballentine has to switch gears for a very spoilery reason, and without giving anything away, I’ll just say that she totally knocks it out of the park once again. It cements her work here as truly special, so I really hope she gets some similarly meaty roles in the future.
Next, we have to talk about Kris Holden-Ried. He plays Grayson, the cult leader, and it’s almost like he’s two different people. Before his character’s conversion to this fanatical group, he’s a completely normal guy like anybody else you’d see walking down the street or hanging out with his friends, but afterward, he’s the kind of quiet, brooding figure who can make your spine tingle with a single look. That dual role allows Holden-Ried to show off an impressive range, so even though he doesn’t get much screen time, he still makes quite an impression.
Those excellent mysteries and characters make the first half of Believer truly captivating, but somewhere in the second act, the film starts to drag. The plot comes to a bit of a standstill, and it begins to feel like a repeating cycle of dreams, visions, and scares.
To be fair, all that horror is quite entertaining at first. As I often say, scares work best when you care about the people involved, and that’s exactly what happens here. However, this part of the movie goes on for about 10-20 minutes too long, so the whole thing eventually becomes rather stale.
Unfortunately, Believer is never able to fully recover from that downward spiral, but thankfully, the final 15-20 minutes or so do end the experience on a good note. I can’t go into any detail without spoiling the ending, but suffice it to say that the story has some twists and turns that will almost certainly catch you off guard. Granted, they’re not quite as good as the surprises in Strange Darling, but they’re definitely enough to tip the scales in the film’s favor.
So at the end of the day, I’m happy to report that I had a mostly good time with Believer. Sure, it’s not one of the best horror movies of the year, so you don’t need to drop everything and see it immediately. But if this sounds like something you’d enjoy, I’d encourage you to give it a shot. Despite its flaws, I think you’ll walk away happy when the credits begin to roll.
Believer is set to hit theaters and VOD on September 13.
