Product Description

They know who you are. They know where to find you. And if you get in their way, there's nothing between heaven and earth that can save you. Martin Sheen ("The West Wing"), Helen Shaver (The Craft) and Jimmy Smits (Star Wars: Episode II) star in this "horrifying" (LA Herald-Examiner) occult thriller. Police psychiatrist Cal Jamison (Sheen) is plunged into a demonic nightmare when he finds detective Tom Lopez (Smits) next to the body of a ritually sacrificed child. Though Lopez is branded the prime suspect in a string of similar murders, Cal is not convinced of his guilt and begins a search for the truth. Soon Cal's investigation makes him a believer in the supernaturaland the target of a terrifying conspiracy.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #19725 in DVD
• Brand: SHEEN,MARTIN
• Released on: 2002-08-27
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .25 pounds
• Running time: 114 minutes

Amazon.com
John Schlesinger's The Believers, a kind of voodoo twist on Rosemary's Baby, is a horror movie where the echoes of otherworldly menace set the tone of terror, but the real evil comes from the hearts of humans. Recently widowed psychologist Martin Sheen moves to New York with his emotionally fragile son, and they become entwined in an underground cult that practices ritual sacrifice of children. Schlesinger is more interested in the human tale of loss and healing and the desperation of a grieving father fighting to protect his only child from a barbarous cabal. He favors mood and menace over spectacular splashes of horror, and even those moments of occult attack are directed with a sly sense of ambiguity. Though overlong and short on moments of genuine terror, this is a rare horror movie grounded in the palpable and powerful emotions of its characters. --Sean Axmaker

Customer Reviews

Believable!!!
I loved this movie. I found it to be very well researched for it's content of Santeria and Brujeria. As someone who grew up around these religions I appreciated the authenticity. This was a scary, suspenseful and edge-of-your-seat, very well made movie.

It's like that saying, sometimes real life is scarier than fiction. Although, this is not one of those "based on a true story" type of movie, this movie was true to life in a lot of ways. Its' content reflected upon 2 very old religions that are very much alive and well in the U.S. and other parts of the world today.

Never underestimate the power of mind and intention (for good or bad) or the power of the universe.

I like it, I bought it, nuff said
The Believers has that strong voodoo/magic/power vibe that gets me everytime. In a normally hokey genre The Believers stands out for one reason...realism.

You might say to yourself, how can a film about cult ritualism have strong realism? Well let me tell you... the writers of this film definately did their homework and the philosophies, desires and methods of the "cult" in this movie are almost idential to groups that exist out there today.

The film is well acted, moves along at a good clip and is by no means predictable. If this brief snippet has peaked your interest I suggest a rental, some popcorn and a fun night at home with friends.

A pretty good movie, but not about Santeria
"The Believers" is going to offend a lot of people, and with good reason. The movie portends to be about the "cult" of Santeria and the dangers it poses to non-believers; what the movie shows has little or nothing to do with Santeria. To give credit where it is due, one of the characters, on viewing the carnage, says that this is not Santeria, it's brujeria, which is Spanish for witchcraft; it's closer to the mark, but even brujeria, as far as I have read, doesn't make a practice out of the ritual sacrifice of small children. Santeria itself is a hardly a cult; it's a religion practiced or believed in by more than 100 million people in the Americas (it's closely related to Voodoo in Haiti and Candomble in Brazil); it's a syncretism between the Yoruba gods and the Roman Catholic saints, and it does not involve shedding human blood. That said, "The Believers" is an intriguing film about a police psychiatrist who comes to New York City with his small son after the death of his wife in a freak accident. He is called by the NYPD after one of their own apparently goes berserk, raving about "they" have his badge and "they" can get anyone. "They" turn out to be a group of lunatics who think they can take over society through their own twisted version of what they call Santeria, once they have achieved the ritual slaughter of three small boys by the summer solstice. They have already killed two; guess whom they are targeting as the third? There's a lot of blood and gore as the cult proves very adept at inducing everyone who gets in their way to commit unpleasant forms of suicide; the psychiatrist finds to his horror that one of his own in-laws is deeply involved in the cult after having sacrified his own young son, and after managing to rescue his child from being the cult's third sacrifice, the psychiatrist leaves New York behind and retreats to the country, only to find that Santeria has followed him. 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 Santeria.