Australian Cult shocker Acolytes takes the slight premise of “A bunch of kids try to black-mail a serial killer into doing the dirty deed for them.” and piles on heaps of visual and sonic flourishes till the audience is left gasping for breath. It just forgets to find a satisfying way to wrap up it all.
I don’t know where Director Jon Hewitt has been hiding, but this guy has film making chops to spare. His control of the frame is eye catching without ever becoming over the top and his use of sound marries itself perfectly with the image. But you can have too much of a good thing. Please, for the last time, can we forget having movies that rely on an absurd number of jump sacres? You can’t expect to get the audience every time. It becomes a numbing experience after: An off-screen warthog runs by, a bird (?) is flies by, a ball lands on the hood of a car. Once or twice is fine, but ten? That’s just lazy. Blame it as a knee-jerk reaction to the slow going first half which proves once again (Like in Dead-Girl) that regular kids doing regular kids stuff is not interesting in of itself. We need to know more about them to actually care for them as people. Still, the performances were almost universally strong for such a low budget picture with the only downer being the incredibly unlikable blond kid posturing his way through scenes instead actually acting.
The two serial killers (Played by Michael Dorman and Joel Edgerton) are diametrically opposite personalities but are none the less chilling in their own devious ways.
I just wish there was a more of a story to get them involved in. We get hints (“Because I could” is a chilling moment) but that just ties in to the biggest problem I had with the entire experience: It doesn’t know how to end. You can throw all the cinematic trickery in the book at the audience, but without a satisfying conclusion, it ultimately feels rather empty. A twist (or two) does not constitute as an ending if it has absolutely no impact on the denouement. What’s the point other than a cheap AH-HA moment? Acolytes is only a quick scene change, a few lines of dialogue and one less twist away from being film I’d recommend whole heartedly, but instead, I have to give it a solid if reserved recommendation. It’s for the most part a smart, beautifully shot and boasts edge of your seat scenes, but it never adds up to a whole.
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