Vashirdfel Simply A Masterpiece

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

ThedevilChoose When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

Predrag This is that rare thing, a genuinely scary contemporary American horror thriller film. Psychologist (Martin Sheen) loses his wife in a tragic accident, later he and his son move to a new location. The gruesome murders of young boys are discovered by authorities (Martin Sheen) is called in when at one of the murder scenes a young very distraught latino cop (Jimmy Smits) is found rambling and praying in Spanish it is learned that something he knows is scaring him and making him fear for his life after discovering that the murdered boys were sacrifices used by a murderous demonic voodoo cult.Although a thriller, and a disturbing one at that, this is also a meditation on how people who are searching or in need of something outside of their regular lives, can be easily sucked into dangerous ideology. It can be terrorism, racism, or anarchism; here, it is a religious cult. This film takes the viewer into the mysterious world of "Santeria", which is a rich and colorful religion that is a blend of Afro-Cuban Religion combined with traditional Catholic religious beliefs. Many of the Catholic European saints are matched with native animals or values. The religion is fascinating though the film is for the most part drama, it is without question a Primer on the subject. The ending is improbable, to say the least, but if you're interested in a movie with a lot of twists and turns, this one is fun to watch. Be warned, however, that its basic premise is flawed, and the film casts a serious and unwarranted slur on the religion of Santería.Overall rating: 8 out of 10.

aboutagirly I was expecting some horror to be sure, I just was not expecting a full blown horror movie with some supernatural stuff thrown in to boot. I was more expecting a serious thriller dealing with cults or something. The movie seems to have a plot device similar to a Dean Koontz book I have heard about in that a cult is out to get the child of a man whose wife dies in a rather unpleasant way right at the beginning of the movie. The cult is sort of on the voodoo side of things and the movie has them doing things in their power to not only to sacrifice the guy's son, but to get him to do it. Add a bit more to it and you have yourself a really good horror movie. There still is a bit to much thriller and drama in it to be a really good horror movie though and I have never been wild about Martin Sheen. I actually always enjoyed watching his son's movies more. So in the end you get a movie that seems to not quite know what it really wants to be, but it had enough horror elements in it for me to overall enjoy.

Woodyanders Police psychiatrist Cal Jamison (an excellent and sympathetic performance by Martin Sheen) and his son Chris (a remarkably fine and mature portrayal by Harley Cross) move to New York City after Cal's wife gets killed in a freak kitchen accident. Cal assists in the investigation of a series of brutal child murders and uncovers a sinister age-old religious cult that practices ritualistic child sacrifices. Naturally, both Cal and Chris find themselves in considerable jeopardy from said cult. Director John Schlesinger, working from a bold, smart and gripping script by Mark Frost, relates the absorbing story at a steady pace, expertly maintains a potently eerie and upsetting tone which becomes more increasingly scary and unnerving as the narrative unfolds towards its chilling conclusion, creates real credibility by grounding the premise in a thoroughly plausible everyday world, makes inspired and effective use of the gritty Big Apple locations, and even delivers stinging spot-on commentary on the darker aspects of religious faith and the ruthless measures some folks will go to in order to ensure wealth and success (the cult members are business people who sacrificed their own kids to obtain tremendous fiscal gain and prosperity). The bang-up acting from the uniformly sterling cast rates as another substantial asset, with especially stand-out work from Helen Shaver as Cal's feisty landlady Jessica Halliday, the always great Robert Loggia as hard-nosed homicide detective Lieutenant Sean McTaggert, Richard Masur as Cal's jolly lawyer buddy Marty Wertheimer, a marvelously twitchy Jimmy Smits as edgy, paranoid undercover cop Tom Lopez, Harris Yulin as prominent self-made business tycoon Robert Calder, and Malick Bowens as frightening powerful high priest Palo. Moreover, this movie scores bonus points for tackling the disturbing subject of child sacrifice in an uncompromisingly grim and straightforward way; the brief shots of mutilated murdered children's' bodies in particular are truly shocking. Robert Muller's slick cinematography gives the picture an attractive glossy look. J. Peter Robinson's spooky'n'shivery score also does the spine-tingling trick. A superior fright film.

MarieGabrielle Covering the subject of cults, religion, Santeria or other beliefs is always intriguing and educational. The acting especially by Martin Sheen as N.Y. psychiatrist Cal, is very good.Cal loses his wife in a tragic accident, and returns to New York City where he is a psychiatric consultant for N.Y.P.D. There are some excellent scenes with Jimmy Smits, as an affected officer who goes mad, and Robert Loggia, as a veteran cop who is also affected by the "Believers", and their group.Harris Yulin is menacing and fits the bill as leader of an 80's group, ostensibly just a charity group, until Sheen uncovers something much worse.The end is rather abrupt and predictable, but the acting is first-rate (especially for Sheen) and this is worth a viewing. The theme alone has many possibilities, the ignorance and unawareness of how many different religions actually exist, and are in practice all over the world. 9/10.