Director John Schlesinger slices the ham extra thick for this nonsensical, justly forgotten schlockfest about a Voodoo-ish religion taking over New York's cognoscenti. Written by Mark Frost, who went on to co-create Twin Peaks, and adapted from a novel called The Religion, you can imagine throughout the sort of turgid prose this began life as. Keen not to appear racist the film indiscriminately demonises all religions, various ethnic minorities, rich people, bleeding heart liberals, middle-aged single females and, most hilariously, milk.

The Believers OR Rosemartin Sheen's Voodoo Baby feels like a movie more suited to the late 60s or 70s antics of films like The Tenant, The Changeling and Rosemary's Baby. There's some great shots of NYC in the 80s, a good lead performance by Sheen (ably helped by Robert Loggia), some creepy voodoo related tricks, an interesting twist and some truly odd moments. Not as captivating or wonderfully weird as it could've been and the pacing upfront could've been better but overall, not bad at all.

Director John Schlesinger slices the ham extra thick for this nonsensical, justly forgotten schlockfest about a Voodoo-ish religion taking over New York's cognoscenti. Written by Mark Frost, who went on to co-create Twin Peaks, and adapted from a novel called The Religion, you can imagine throughout the sort of turgid prose this began life as. Keen not to appear racist the film indiscriminately demonises all religions, various ethnic minorities, rich people, bleeding heart liberals, middle-aged single females and, most hilariously, milk.

Sinister cults flourishing among New York's upper crust? You can trace this theme from the 1943 Robson/Lewton The Seventh Victim through Rosemary's Baby and The Believers. The timeless feel of the latter is an aspect I didn't appreciate back in 1987, when I found the film predictable and tepid. Now I love its old-fashioned pulpiness, updated via a '70s-era Lumetesque atmosphere. The jury might be out on whether John Schlesinger, a brilliant director, had a natural feel for horror but there's little doubt he achieves some great moments here while smartly crafting subtext about religious/cultural assimilation.

Just watched John Schlesinger's THE BELIEVERS. This is a movie about a police therapist, and how he get drawn into a case about Santeria. That's right: Santeria isn't just a song by Sublime, but it's also a religion that predates Christianity and has roots in Voodoo. If you're interested in learning about Santeria, then stay very far away from this movie. Santeria is only used as a plot-device to seperate the good-guys from the bad-guys, with the basic formula running something like this: Santaria=witchcraft/​black-magic. I am a fan of Schlesinger's MIDNIGHT COWBOY and THE DAY OF THE LOCUST, but The Believers is just commercialized studio-garbage.

So-so metropolitan voodoo tale with some effectively creepy moments, but not a lot else to help it stand out. Not horrible. Not great.