The Believers (1987)

(In French, On TV, December 2022) There’s a big grab-bag of stuff in The Believers that works against and for the film and sometimes both at once. Coming from the decade that brought us the satanic panic, it starts with a police psychiatrist (Martin Sheen) fearing that his son is the target of a voodoo cult, and escalates all the way to Manhattan elites having sacrificed children to ensure their wealth and power. There’s clearly something interesting there—and seeing the way satanic panics are still very much with us (always politicized by political agitators), this material is still unnerving in some way. The film even showcases a pretty good (if not all that original) sequence in which insects come out of boils on the lead female character’s face. But something about the lack of energy in the execution, lack of originality in the premise, and lack of interest in the proceedings ensures that the film itself remains curiously inert. It doesn’t quite fall to the level of being unwatchable, but it’s limp. Despite a spirited envoi, The Believers doesn’t leave much of an impression, so close it is to other, better movies revolving around those same plot elements. At best, it’s going to bring you back to late-1980s Manhattan… but there’s not much more here once the credits roll.