Very well-made (there are some great shots here) with really good performances from the young cast, especially Sebastian Gregory, and a nice, surprising twist.

7/10 ( B )

B-


Acolytes has a very promising plot. Two youths witness a guy burying a corpse and they try to blackmail him into killing a guy who has been bullying them for years. That of course, doesn't end up nearly as successful of an idea as they hoped for.

The movie sadly doesn't manage to fully deliver on the premise. There are some really great moments and I'd say that the final 25 or so minutes are quite terrific. The rest of the film leading up to the finale, however, is riddled with logical flaws, irritating characters (in particular the absolutely annoying leading girl) and a rather weak character development. While the film doesn't manage to turn it all around by the end, it still somewhat redeems itself with a couple of clever and very vicious twists. You can see that the flick is Australian and not American as it seems to dare more. Nevertheless the script is very uneven and one of the few twists is very predictable.

I've got to give the film props for the very good cinematography, though. It's unusual to see such an inventive and beautiful cinematography in a low-budget and low-key movie like this one. Moreover, Joel Edgerton, who plays the killer is quite unnervingly convincing in his role. It's a decent film on the whole, but one that could have been oh so much better.