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S E A R C H    D V D B e a v e r

Directed by John Schlesinger
USA 1987

 

The Believers, director John Schlesinger’s (Marathon Man) finely crafted, modern-day supernatural thriller, stars Martin Sheen (Apocalypse Now), Helen Shaver (Desert Hearts) and Robert Loggia (Scarface).

Following the tragic death of his wife, psychologist Cal Jamison (Sheen) and his young son Chris (Harley Cross, Someone to Watch Over Me) relocate from Minneapolis to New York City to start a new life. Enlisted by Lt. McTaggert (Loggia) to help solve a baffling suicide case involving voodoo, Cal soon finds himself in the middle of an investigation with ties to a Caribbean religious cult and a series of ritualistic murders that will place him and those he loves in grave danger.

The Believers, based on the Nicholas Conde novel The Religion, is written for the screen by Mark Frost (co-creator of Twin Peaks), photographed by Robby Müller (Paris, Texas) and co-stars Jimmy Smits (TV’s NYPD Blue), Harris Yulin (Another Woman), Richard Masur (The Thing), and Elizabeth Wilson (The Graduate).

***

A police psychologist and his school-age son become embroiled in the machinations of a mysterious cult religion in this thriller from director John Schlesinger. After his wife is electrocuted in a freak accident, Dr. Cal Jamison (Martin Sheen) and his son, Chris (Harley Cross), move back to Manhattan, where Cal went to school. When not spending time with his son and surrogate extended family -- husband-and-wife anthropologists Kate (Elizabeth Wilson) and Dennis Maslow (Lee Richardson) -- Cal settles into his new job and romances his landlady, Jessica Halliday (Helen Shaver). Soon, though, a series of brutal murders of young children begins to take over Cal's life. Through the ravings of policeman Tom Lopez (Jimmy Smits), who believes the killers have supernatural power over him after stealing his badge, Cal learns of Santeria, a voodoo-like Latin American sect that mixes elements of Christianity and pagan mysticism. Although the religion turns out to have ties to some of the richest men in the city and even Cal's well-meaning maid seems to be a practitioner, he can't get any straight answers as to whether the cult is responsible for the murders. But after a sinister African shaman (Malick Bowens) places a curse on Jessica, Cal finally begins to understand the danger that faces him -- and his son. The Believers was very loosely adapted from Nicholas Conde's 1982 novel The Religion.

Excerpt from B+N located HERE

Posters

Theatrical Release: June 10th, 1987

Reviews                                                                                                       More Reviews                                                                                       DVD Reviews

 

Review: Olive Films - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

Box Cover

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Distribution Olive Films - Region 'A' - Blu-ray
Runtime 1:54:24.941        
Video

1.85:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 24,243,841,102 bytes

Feature: 23,813,007,360 bytes

Video Bitrate: 24.19 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

NOTE: The Vertical axis represents the bits transferred per second. The Horizontal is the time in minutes.

Bitrate Blu-ray:

Audio

DTS-HD Master Audio English 2021 kbps 2.0 / 48 kHz / 2021 kbps / 24-bit (DTS Core: 2.0 / 48 kHz / 1509 kbps / 24-bit)

Subtitles English, None
Features Release Information:
Studio:
Olive Films

 

1.85:1 1080P Single-layered Blu-ray

Disc Size: 24,243,841,102 bytes

Feature: 23,813,007,360 bytes

Video Bitrate: 24.19 Mbps

Codec: MPEG-4 AVC Video

 

Edition Details:

• Trailer (1:46)


Blu-ray Release Date:
June 25th, 2019
Standard Blu-ray Case

Chapters 8

 

 

Comments:

NOTE: The below Blu-ray captures were taken directly from the Blu-ray disc.

ADDITION: Olive Films Blu-ray (June 2019): Olive Films have transferred John Schlesinger's The Believers to 1080P Blu-ray. It is on s single-layered disc with a reasonable bitrate and looks decent in 1080p. There are a few frame-specific marks but is a generally consistent image with some depth - the screen captures below represent the quality.

On their Blu-ray, Olive Films use a DTS-HD Master 2.0 channel track (24-bit) in the original English language. It has a few aggressive effects and an occasionally dramatic score by J. Peter Robinson (The Bank Job, Rumble in the Bronx, Mind Ripper), exporting some depth with more consistent dialogue. Olive Films offer optional English subtitles on their Region 'A' Blu-ray.

The Olive Films Blu-ray has only offers a trailer as an extra. This is considered a 'bare-bones' disc.

The Believers is an engaging horror-thriller from Schlesinger  - with many highly memorable scenes.  It's worth a viewing or more but the bare-bones Blu-ray looses points as the film is deserved of some supplements - a commentary or interviews. Pricey at present but a fine film to have in your digital library. 

Gary Tooze

 


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Distribution Olive Films - Region 'A' - Blu-ray

 

 


 

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