‘Believer’ (2024) Review – ‘Longlegs’ Meets ‘The Omen’ In This Dark And Devilish Thriller

Truth is stranger than fiction, which is undoubtedly true for struggling writer Kate Harris (Ella Ballentine). After a notorious mass murderer and cult leader attacks her, she inexplicably lacks any memory of the event. What follows is a drip, drip, drip of tension and darkness. Believer is like the taunt of a butcher knife in the hands of a maniac. It is the dreadful feeling that permeates from start to finish. The film is bloody, dark, and devilish.

Believer starts with the capture of a notorious cult leader and mass murderer, Marshall Grayson (Kris Holden-Ried), who exerts inexplicable control over his followers. After his capture, Kate looks to his case as a source of inspiration for her writing. She attends his trial, where, during the proceeding, Grayson leaps onto the viewing stand and attacks her, whispering something to her in the process. What he says to her becomes much of the film’s mystery. After the attack, where strange occurrences happen, Kate stays with her family to recover, but the strangeness does not stop there. 

While Kate stays with her family, more information begins to trickle out about her past correspondences with Grayson and her own family’s tragic past. A subtle game of cat and mouse brings to mind this year’s Longlegs, particularly Kate’s unusual connection to Grayson. These moments exist throughout the film and evoke pure terror. 

There is a subtle backstory layered throughout the film involving Kate and his sister Michelle (Lauren Lee Smith) and the death of their parents. In addition to a touch of evil in every frame, death is ever-present in imagery and dialogue. This is a dark plunge into the depths of hell, and the film stays there, marinating in pure darkness.

Kate plays the central focus of the narrative. Ballentine gives a subtly unhinged performance. Despite claiming no memory of the attack, Kate’s family begins to suspect she knows more about the mysterious Grayson than lets on. There is a scene early on where the family dog inexplicably begins barking and lunging at Kate, conjuring up moments from classic films like The Omen. Similarly, much of the family is skeptical of Kate being under the cult’s influence, but strange events keep occurring. 

Demonic visions, questionable alliances, and the drip, drip, drip of blood are both conjured and imagined. Believer works to create an uneasy sense of reality that will leave the audience both queasy and riveted. What is natural versus what is imagined plays central to the film’s taunt. 

Moreover, the film feels like a modern-esque throwback to the Satanic panic of the 1980s. It projects a darkness, not only in terms of cinematography but also in tone. Believer does not shy away from the occult. The fact that the film takes place in the woods gives credence to the march of evil heading towards them.

Grayson may not appear in much of the film, but his presence is felt throughout, affecting many characters and their sense of reality. While many subjects are tackled, there is a tragic focus on Michelle and Kate’s sisterhood. There is a sense of a family beset by tragedy that never lets up. This darkness continues into the present as Kate becomes a dark specter over Michelle and her family.

The film delicately unpacks the mystery with precision and raw adrenaline. Central to Grayson’s power is his unique ability as a cult leader to control his followers, and Kate appears central to these machinations. A detective (Martin Roach) finds himself on the case, attempting to decipher whether Kate is a willing conspirator with Grayson. Much of the film plays like a traditional mystery, elevating with harrowing suspense and unlocking each new clue that leads to a jaw-dropping finale. 

The performance aids the film in addition to the design. Even when the material could border on melodramatic, the cast sells everything sincerely, particularly Ballentine’s performance. We are both sympathetic and standoffish to her character. She creates a tragic victim with a hint of an unwitting co-conspirator. 

There are no cheap thrills or obnoxious scares in the film. The devil is omnipresent from the film’s start, trickling in and out like a dark cloud of pending doom. Believer is intelligent and treats its audience with seriousness and appreciation. It is a thriller in the grandest sense that leaves the audience white-knuckled right to the end.

Believer will debut in select theaters and On Demand on September 13, 2024, courtesy of Brainstorm Media.