Acolytes

This is an Australian film that no one has ever heard of, so leave it to my Father (who doesn't watch all that many movies) to be the one who has seen it and WILL NOT SHUT UP about it. One thing you should know about him, is he lives on the IFC. That is the Independent Film Channel. I have the utmost respect for that as I am a HUGE  advocate for indie film. After having the sentence "Have you watched Acolytes yet?" shoved down my throat for weeks as if it is on every channel all day long due to its popularity, I found a copy for $2. It is a thriller in every sense of the word. My favorite genre of film and extremely difficult to pull off. Thriller seems to be a mash up between Drama, Horror, and Slasher and if done right it is none of these. If my father had known actors better, as I do, he could have told me Joel Edgerton stars and that would have lit a fire under my butt. He is from last year's Warrior. In Acolytes he plays a serial killer whose secret is found out by a group of teenagers. Simple enough, call the cops and have him arrested...too easy. Why not blackmail the psycho? Good idea. These kids actually hire him to kill a guy who has bullied them their whole lives in exchange for their silence. From here the cat and mouse begins. It is a short film (90 minutes) that is hard to understand at times times due to thick Aussie accents, but to say it is a nail biter is not doing it justice. At one point I looked over at my Wife, who I knew was hating every second of it, only to find out she was digging out her cuticles with her fingernails. I was wrong. She couldn't look away. Acolytes did its job as a Thriller. Where it goes from here is for me to know and you to find out. Which I'm sure will never happen since I am sure I own the only copy on U.S. soil. 
      I am thinking about doing a pay it forward with the DVD. I bought it for $2, and I know at least 2 people that want to see it. I will imprint the inside cover with an email address and instructions of what to do with it after you watch it. Give it to someone you know will enjoy it. Every one who sees it will email me their name and zip code and we can see how far it travels and how many people watch it. What do ya think about that plan? Comment below.


NBM rates Acolytes - Awesome