Acolytes

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Horrorphile - May 2009

Acolytes

May 28th 2009 01:07

A seriously good Australian horror-thriller with a seriously nasty edge, Acolytes (2008) is the work of director Jon Hewitt collaborating with screenwriters Shane Krause and Shayne Armstrong on their first feature. It’s a tale of blackmail and revenge, corruption and tragedy all rolled into a tight little serial killer, teen-romance package.

Mark (Sebastian Gregory) and James (Joshua Payne) are at the end of high school. They like a bit of mischief. They share a haunting secret. When Mark discovers a burial spot in the forest, he gets James and his girlfriend Chasely (Hannah Mangan-Lawrence) involved. It turns out to be a makeshift grave with a girl’s body buried. They think they know who the killer is as Mark had spotted the car leaving the scene, so he and James concoct a plan to blackmail the suspected killer (Joel Edgerton) into murdering the pervert bully, Gary Parker (Michael Dorman), who scarred their lives as young adolescents. If only it were that simple.

Acolytes Joshua Payne, Hannah Mangan-Lawrence, Sebastian Gregory

James (Joshua Payne), Chasely (Hannah Mangan-Lawrence) and Mark (Sebastian Gregory)

Director Jon Hewitt has come along way since his dreadful debut feature Bloodlust (1992), a cheap-as-chips vampire piece, or his turgid detective flick Redball (1999). His third feature, darklovestory (2006) wasn’t even released theatrically or DVD, only screening at the MUFF (Melbourne Underground Film Festival). In Acolytes his wife, Belinda McClory, appears once again, this time in a non-speaking part, but a role that has a significant input at movie’s end.

Joel Edgerton as Ian Wright

Michael Dorman as Gary Parker

Acolytes sports sensational productions values, an excellent cast, and some great writing. Only the ending disappoints as it all collapses into familiar Hollywood territory (perhaps following a test screening, since the two alternate endings provided on the DVD are decidedly more evil), which it can be argued is where the producers want the movie to appeal: the famously conservative American audience.

The superb cinematography is from Mark Pugh, the sharp as a razor editing is by Simon Martin, the fantastic sound design is by Kearon de Clouet, and there’s a solid and melodic selection of Australian rock source music which is integrated into the narrative beautifully. The Queensland landscape; forestry, hillside, and suburbia is stunning, the performances from the three teenagers, especially Sebastian Gregory and Hannah Mangan-Lawrence (who has a small role in The Square) are terrific, while Michael Dorman and Joel Edgerton deliver truly frightening turns as their savagely respective villains.

Gary burns rubber trying to catch the teens

Along with Nash Edgerton’s The Square (which is more a noir-thriller), and Wolf Creek (2005), Acolytes is one of the best Aussie hardened genre movies in years. Mclean’s Rogue (2006) is also very good, but these other three movies are grounded in a more palpable reality; people fucking up, or people being fucked over, royally, by psychopaths and/or gangsters in realistic scenarios. Australia has really been delivering the horror goods of late. Even Dying Breed (2008) provided some decent nastiness.

Acolytes Joel Edgerton, Michael Dorman, Joshua Payne, Hannah Mangan-Lawrence, Sebastian Gregory

Confrontation time

In some ways Acolytes and The Square are not too dissimilar to the Coen brothers’ Blood Simple. I’m sure both Jon Hewitt and the Edgerton brothers would be the first to agree they owe inspiration and influence to that masterful exercise in genre stylistics and narrative tweaking. Although the imagery used at movie’s end worked very well (especially the very last shot), the whole ending sequence didn’t entirely convince me, especially after seeing the alternate endings. But I’m a sick puppy at heart.

Ian with his deaf wife (Belinda McClory)

When push comes to shove, you can have a great little screenplay, you can even have a tailored script that plays by the rules, but if the crew you’ve put together to make the movie doesn’t gel and doesn’t deliver the goods, it all falls apart. Despite my reservations Acolytes should open a few more doors overseas for Hewitt, if not I’ll eat my hat. It’s just a shame this movie didn’t get a decent theatrical season. In Germany it has been re-titled Die Erpresser (The Blackmailers), which has a nice dark ring to it.

Here’s the trailer:

Acolytes DVD (with loads of extras) is courtesy of Madman Entertainment, many thanks

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Posted By: Bryn - Category: movie reviews

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Comments

11 Comments. [ Add A Comment ]

Comment by Natalina

May 28th 2009 01:42

My Life My Muse
Beta Girl Blog

This one sounds really interesting Bryn. Looks like the U.S. release on DVD is July 28th. I'll be watching for it.

Comment by Someone

May 28th 2009 05:50

Evil Pleasures
Random Musings on Life, Love and Everything
Let's Get Down To Business

I fell in love with Australian horror when I watched Undead, and to be honest I've only seen at most half a dozen of them, but none of them have been bad...

Coincidence? Possibly...

Comment by Bryn

May 28th 2009 06:09

Horrorphile

Someone, I'm keen to see the the new flick from the brothers who made Undead, but it's been in production for so long, I'm starting to wonder. It's a vampire flick called Daybreakers.

Comment by Bryn

May 28th 2009 06:12

Horrorphile

Natalina, you'll like it for sure. Mood, music, menace. All top notch.

Comment by Natalina

May 28th 2009 06:58

My Life My Muse
Beta Girl Blog

Just ordered it with my Amazon gift certificates which have been burning a hole in my computer. Now I have 45 bucks left to spend. Any suggestions?

Comment by Damo

May 28th 2009 07:18

This looks like serious fun.

The title seems a bit cryptic to be used as a hook to pull an audience.

Comment by Bryn

May 28th 2009 08:24

Horrorphile

Natalina, order Nash Edgerton's The Square, he's actor Joel's stuntperson brother turned director, and the movie is an excellent noir thriller.

Comment by Bryn

May 28th 2009 08:26

Horrorphile

Damo, yes, I was actually going to mention that. The word "acolyte" is explained in the movie, but your average Joe will be mostly clueless when looking at the poster. I think the German title is better, which translates as The Blackmailers. Perhaps the title has been the movie's Achilles heel as far as trying to distribute it?

Comment by Natalina

May 28th 2009 16:51

My Life My Muse
Beta Girl Blog

Can't find The Square on Amazon, Bryn.. Ordered a documentary about Nikola Tesla instead, further cementing my geekiness as well as my ability to veer off topic quite easily. Anyway, thanks for the suggestion, I'll keep my eyes peeled for it.

Comment by JohnDoe

May 28th 2009 18:04

Film & TV on DVD

Hi Bryn,

This one sounds like a similar plot to Chumscrubber without the dark comedy....may check it out....Dying Breed is top of my Aussie list of films that wuill probably take eons to get over here...the irony of international movement, now its local product that i must wait for

Comment by Bryn

May 29th 2009 02:38

Horrorphile

JD, Chumscrubber is quite a different kettle of fish. Acolytes is more like what I wanted Brick to be.

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