Acolytes – Movie Review
- Directed by Jon Hewitt
- Starring Sebastian Gregory, Joshua Payne, Hanna Mangan Lawrence, Michael Dorman and Joel Edgerton
This film was a nice little surprise for me, as I tend to read about upcoming horror stuff and add it to the Netfux queue with little thought except that it’s something new within the genre of which I’m quite fond. Thus, it’s not uncommon for a film to arrive in the mail with me being relatively unaware of what it’s actually about until I pop it into the player. This film opens with two boys nervous of a bully that holds a grudge against them, but quickly finds much larger evil at work in their small community, which is virtually wallpapered with ‘missing persons’ signs searching for local teenaged girls.
Set in an Australian suburb, we open on three typical teens: James (Payne) and Chasely (Lawrence), who are in a relationship, and Mark (Gregory), who is James’ best friend, but obviously holds a torch for Chasely. The three spend time cutting class and hanging out, James making a point to play grab-ass with his girl while Mark is in close proximity, presumably to establish dominance and assert in no uncertain terms who she’s there with.
Ian Wright stands over Tanya's body
Mark wanders away and happens upon a man burying something in the nearby woods, he avoids being seen himself and sees enough of the guy’s vehicle to be able to describe it to the police. The 3 of them return with shovels, confirm that he was indeed burying a body, and then debate what to do with this knowledge. The boys get Chasely to borrow her mother’s car, then return to re-bury the body.
The next day James turns their bully nemesis Parker (Dorman) in for the crime, and then directs Chasely to drive by his house, not telling them what he’s done. Parker spots them driving by as the cops are searching his house, puts two and two together about who called the law on him, ensuring his wrath later in the film.
RED 4WD ROADS Petra is terrified/Mark is Ians Acolyte
The kids are dropping Chasely’s mum’s car back at the parking area when they suddenly notice the killer’s vehicle parked nearby. They follow the guy home, and are then left with what her mother will now think is a stolen car. They trash it near an overpass, leaving it as though it was stolen for a joyride. Parker catches up with them on their walk home, chasing and cornering Mark, whose eyebrow ring he rips out, threatening more to come. They meet up at Chasely’s house, where she goes to get first-aid stuff for Marks eye. James reveals his plan to use the killer to exact revenge on Parker, who we find is much more than just a bully to these two boys, but has played a much darker, more disturbing role in their past. James leaves abruptly to begin work on his plans, leaving Mark and Chasely alone; Chasely kisses Mark while looking after his wounded eye. He’s obviously not the only one with mixed feelings in their little trio.
The boys stake out the killer’s house the next day, waiting until his deaf wife (Belinda McClory leaves with their child in a stroller, then they break in and explore, going everywhere except the locked basement. They learn that his name is Ian (Edgerton) and get a phone number so that they can contact him at the house. A small Canadian Maple leaf was left on the victim that they unearthed; they leave it beneath the windshield wiper blade of his vehicle the next day. Ian races to the burial site and is relieved to find things looking undisturbed, though he still scatters limbs and leaves to give a more natural look to the area.
DRIVE-IN Parker pulls up at the old kiosk
The boys call that night, telling Ian that they know who he is and what he’s done, then rattle off Parker’s name and address with the demand that Ian kills him within 24 hours or they’ll go to the cops with what they know. Up against a wall, Ian tracks down Parker, but rather than kill him, asks why some teen boys want him dead. The two of them begin to hatch a plan of their own to get out of things, leading to some actual surprises down the road, even though I thought I knew where this film was going.
The movie has a distinctly indie drama feeling about it, due in no small part to the gorgeous cinematography that makes excellent use of the forest scenes and looks for interesting angles that you don’t normally see in a horror film. Kudos to Mark Pugh for making this film look like a million bucks. The only real issue I’d take is with certain elements of the sound design, which makes frequent, frustrating use of the always annoying ‘smashcut +shrieking music cue’ to startle the hell out of the audience. It’s an irritating staple of horror film that I wish would go away: You can make a Disney movie ‘scary’ if you sit behind me with an airhorn and make me jump frequently, it’s not building any sort of suspense.
I really enjoyed this film, it managed to build itself up to be more than I originally expected it to be, revealing interesting layers of character development beneath the surface that we first meet. It actually plays a bit like Larry Clark’s film Bully, but injected with some interesting twists on horror film tropes, raising it above the average slasher film.
I would definitely suggest checking this one out.
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Trailer
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