John Schlesinger directed The Believers, a neo-noir horror thriller, starring Martin Sheen, Robert Loggia and Helen Shaver, based on the 1982 novel “The Religion” by Nicholas Conde.
Grade: C
After his wife Lisa dies from accidental electrocution, psychologist Cal Jamison (Martin Sheen) relocates with his son Chris from Minneapolis to New York, where Cal begins working as police psychologist for the Police Department.
Timing is bad: The city has been plagued by a series of brutal, ritualistic child murders. The first victim is a young boy found murdered in abandoned movie theater. Cop Tom Lopez claims the crimes are committed by Hispanic cult practicing a malevolent version of brujería. Cal is ten appointed to examine Tom, who raves about the cult’s powerful leader.
A second victim is found eviscerated on makeshift altar beneath dock in Staten Island. Cal begins to inquire about brujería to Carmen, his housekeeper and nanny, who practices a benevolent form of it.
Some time later, Cal, Jessica and Chris are living happily on a farm in the country, and Jessica is pregnant. Cal investigates the barn loft and finds an altar adorned with religious icons, fresh produce, loaves of bread, and sacrificed animals.
Jessica then confesses to making the shrine–“I did it for us. We’ll be safe now.” Cal stares in shock as the screen fades to black.
The highlight of the film involves the depiction of a voodoo-like curse. Jessica accidentally leaves her compact in a bathroom while snooping around in Calder’s office. By the time she retrieves it, it has become a cursed item.
Satanic-themed Hollywood films
There were several Satanic-themed Hollywood films in the 1970s, such as The Exorcist (1973) and The Omen film series (1976-1991).
The Believers was one of two noteworthy films about Devil worship in the 1980s, alongside with Angel Heart (1987). However, while Angel Heart was a period piece set in the 1940s, The Believers was set in contemporary world.
The villains were not worshipers of the Judeo-Christian Satan. Instead they were practitioners of Santería, the legitimate Afro-Caribbean religion–“a cult of evil that condones human sacrifice”.
Some saw the film’s message as critique of yuppies who would do anything for success, including calling upon dark gods. A cleaning woman working for the Jamisons tries to protect Chris by using a benevolent version of Santeria. Cal fails to distinguish between good and evil magic and treats her as a threat.
The film depicts Manhattan as a place where alien cultures merge and the Christian white man with reasons to fear the pagans. As such, it plays on a fear for the ethnic, racial, and religious Other.
Most films about Caribbean religions tend to involve guys with blank eyes and animal sacrifice, bloodthirsty cults, sadistic killers, and quest for innocent blood; they never depict any positive aspect to these religions. The Believers makes use of ritualistic details (circles of ashes, blood, and charms), without explaining their meaning.
The movie might have been silly and tasteless, but it was also genuinely frightening with its persistent dread atmosphere.
Cast
Martin Sheen as Cal Jamison
Helen Shaver as Jessica Halliday
Harley Cross as Chris Jamison
Robert Loggia as Lieutenant Sean McTaggert
Jimmy Smits as Tom Lopez
Malick Bowens as Palo
Elizabeth Wilson as Kate Maslow
Harris Yulin as Robert Calder
Lee Richardson as Dennis Maslow
Richard Masur as Marty Wertheimer
Carla Pinza as Carmen Ruiz
Janet-Laine Green as Lisa Jamison
Raúl Dávila as Oscar Sezine
Geoffrey Kellett as Paramedic
