Acolytes (2008)

Running Time: 91 minutes

Release Date: March 25, 2009

Review by: Stacey

 

A few weeks ago I got an invite to test out AMC's new, all-horror streaming site, Shudder.  It's still in beta right now but it boasts a pretty impressive collection of titles at the moment, and one of them was Australian horror, Acolytes.  After I checked out the trailer, I was pretty certain I was going to like this one.

 

The story follows three teens who blackmail a serial killer.  Sounds simple enough, right?  Not exactly.  Mark (Sebastian Gregory), James (Joshua Payne), and his girlfriend, Chasely (Hanna Mangan-Lawrence), uncover a body after seeing a man (Joel Edgerton) in the woods burying something.  Instead of turning him into the cops, they decide to use him to kill the violent bully, Gary Parker (Michael Dorman), who raped Mark and James when they were younger.  As expected, things don't exactly go as planned and the twists and turns lead up to a pretty unexpected climax.

 

As a fan of most Australian horror (Wolf Creek, Lake Mungo, The Babadook), I went in to Acolytes with a pretty good amount of hope.  It's definitely a slow burner but director Jon Hewitt was able to keep the suspense building throughout as you had not one, but TWO villians in the film with Parker and Edgerton as serial killer, Ian Wright.  There was the obvious love triangle thrown in between the three teens but it wasn't as nearly important to the overall plot as you'd expect.

The cast all seemed to play well off of each other despite the characters of Mark and James being mostly unlikeable (teenagers are stupid) and Chasely playing between both boys so you never know which one she REALLY likes (teenage girls are stupid).  Edgerton played the role of the suburbanite dad by day/serial killing maniac by night damn well, and creepy as fuck.  He was cool, calm, and collected throughout...until he wasn't and that's when it gets intense and sinister.  Dorman as rapist bully, Parker, is pretty typical of a....rapist bully; he drives a badass muscle car and looks like a white supremacist.
 

Acolytes doesn't bring anything impressively new to the table, but it's a chilling story that keeps you guessing until the very end in a surprisingly unexpected finale.  Not to mention it boasts a decent soundtrack and exceptional cinematography.  This is one you want to see.

4/5 shitty eyebrow rings

 

Check out the trailer!