Customer Reviews

Acolytes

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

Acolytes is a 2008 Australian film with a premise both simple and unusual: Three teenage friends stumble across a burial spot in the woods, identify a serial killer, and decide to blackmail him into committing a crime on their behalf. This is not a plan born out of restless boredom. The crime, it seems, is a form of rude justice for an act of violence that occurred several years earlier.

Present day scenes feature the friends' daily wanderings across a hideously boring suburban neighborhood. We never see concerned adults--other than law enforcement officers--taking an interest in anything they do. Loving parents will find this appalling, but honest ones will admit that a lot of teens live this way. Unsupervised and disconnected from parents who are busy working or just not that interested, the young people in this story create meaning and relationships from scratch. What they come up with is sometimes touching and sad, but it is also dangerous and potentially self-destructive.

The story deepens with a series of flashbacks. Every creepy revelation and each new act of brutality builds naturally and inexorably upon the last, until the horrific ending seems both surprising and inevitable. Only one moment, late in the film--when two of the teens rush to aid the third at their usual meeting place--seems unlikely. There is a missing bridge here, a scene of reconciliation between the two boys, which would justify the action.

Director Jon Hewitt has coaxed believable performances from his cast. And he's framed them--both teens and adults--with a soulless backdrop that makes the word "community" seem ridiculous. Both the natural world and suburban limbo are revealed as places that hold frightening mysteries, down winding roads and behind closed doors.

Acolytes has a pretty simple but intriguing premise--three teens attempt a game they're not prepared to play. The game is blackmail, and the target is a cold-blooded killer. They quickly learn they're in way over their heads.

Mark is a teenager who spots a mysterious man burying something out in the woods. Probably just a dead pet, but he and his friends contemplate other possibilities--a stash of money, perhaps? They decide to go dig it up, and are flabbergasted by whay they uncover--a dead woman. When they try to report the crime over the phone, the police demand some identification. Scared, they hang up the phone instead and consider other options.

Amazing what teenagers will do when they're bored. First, they decide to track the killer down. Not trying to be heroes or anything, they do this simply out of some sick curiousity or morbid fascination. Since they know the vehicle he drives and the vicinity of where he lives, it doesn't take long.

Eventually they make another foolish decision--blackmail this psychopath. The tables soon get turned and the results could be deadly.

Really the main thing these kids needed were some adult guidance. Parents who care about them and could supervise them somewhat. No presence whatsoever of an adult who is ready to listen, and this proves to be costly.

This film does a tremendous job at developing characters and building tension. Surprisingly stellar performances from the young cast as well. There are elements of teen sexuality mixed in with the action and danger. Plus evidence of an abused childhood begin to manifest. This has a very well written screenplay.

But unfortunately this film culminates in a gruesome, horrific finale that seemed a little uneven and forced. That is the only major drawback to this film, otherwise I thought it was damn near perfect.

i gave this a five star rating but maybe it was a four and a half.
i felt that this was a very real movie. i could see much, if not all, of this having taken place. okay, for the ease of making a movie some things were simplified [like the ease of the illegal entry into a domicile. i at no point felt that this promoted nor accepted child molestation like one of the other reviewers. i will need to watch this once more to make sure that all of the lose ends were tied up. I'm very confident that there are no slip ups. there are a number of unexpected twists that made sense because of human nature's willingness to leave important details. so when a character doesn't tell others everything it's to keep up his, or her, own public perception. nobody likes to have their past embarassements waved around.

basic story: some kids received terrible torment from a guy when they were young.
now days a girl goes missing. we don't know exactly what happened but we see some clips and are left to assume.
one of the three main characters. mark, sees a guy bury something. he, also, sees the guys vehicle.
the others come back, with mark, to see what was buried. they find a body.
they deduce that the killer must be local.
while looking for the grave diggers vehicle they see their old tormenter.
the old tormentor comes after them.
mark doesn't like that one of his two friends called up the grave digger and set into motion a simple idea.
"hey, grave digger... if you don't kill our tormentor we'll turn you into the cops."

from here we see that simple plans often don't go right and can develop terrible side effects. also, there seems to be a little research that was used to come up with: what creates the sick-o's that we see as sociopaths... or damages to the young which will later create a psychopath.
i felt that there was high quality in the acting, filming, direction, and script. much of the scenery was beautiful, filmed in queensland Australia.
as i mentioned earlier there were many unexpected points that created twists. these were not gimmicks but based on human nature. after viewing the film/dvd again I'm sure i'll find the film seamless with no lose ends.
after re-watching the film/dvd. there were no losse ends. this is a rare gem and proof that a film can be great with little to no money for the budget.

It put a different view on things considering the teenagers tried blackmailing the killer to killing an exfriend. However, the movie focused alot on the kids relationships which got tired considering the girl was rather torn between the guys and also alot on the kids alcohol usage which again got rather old when you are wanting the story line to progress. The killer was somewhat lackluster but he did have an odd humor about him. It was ok but not something I would sit through again with slow pacing and lackluster acting.

Acolytes was shockingly realistic ,I didn't expect to receive all that it gave.
The acting was amazing and so believable that you were drawn into the story so much deeper almost as if you knew the characters.
This of course comes from great character development and attention to detail.
The question is how many monsters are there in this film? Who deserves what?
We are taken on a ride from the perspective of a serial killer ,three rebellious and angry teenagers and a perverted bully who did much more to two of the teens than just bully them.

There are other characters woven in as well but they are given just enough time to let us know what's going on and who they are.
It starts off pretty tame then slowly and methodically gets more and more brutal.It's a cat and mouse between all of the characters and a battle of wits and experience.There are some pretty brutal and winch worthy scenes.
The climax is unexpected and clever,it's a film you will be thinking about long after you take the disc out of your player.

I LOVE the smaller titiles when they come out and turn out being a great surprise! VERY well-made and highly recommend!! :)

The film producers, writers, etc., really enjoyed making this film (I watched the commentary to be able to better understand the film)--and so I shall be kinder than I might have been in reviewing it.

It's not that I like films to give me everything on a silver platter, but it wasn't easy to follow the story for me. Several unhappy youths and a dark secret that you can probably guess, although the maze you will have to work through is harder than it might have been. The real secret of the film might escape you--which is why I watched the commentary, where it is all explained in a round table of discussion by the film producers.

It's a unique story and could have been presented in an easier narrative and action sequence, at least for my part. On second viewing, I enjoyed it more.

I tried to watch this last night and I would not recommend anyone else to watch it,I turned it off before it was even over.
The reason being is it felt like a sadistic pedophile was making the movie.
If that makes you want to watch it then the movie is for you but, if it doesn't then you know its definitely not for you.