Stylish but barely mediocre overall

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Excellent characters with emotional depth. My wife, daughter and granddaughter all enjoyed it...and me, too! Very good movie! You won't be disappointed.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

As always, a review by a horror films freak, not a professional critic nor even a cinema student.For starters - allow me to admit that, having watched the film from beginning to end with no pauses, as the credits rolled I was left completely bewildered. As the twists occurred, I was able to realize I was in fact witnessing a twist, but not thoroughly comprehend what the twist was or what made it a twist.As always, I came here to IMDb as soon the film had ended, and was much relieved to find out I wasn't the only one with more questions than answers... It was as if James's shirt slogan ("question everything answer nothing") was meant for this film. So after doing a little reading I was able to fully understand the plot, the twists and how they came together. All in all I'd have to say that the story was quite good and that the "bully" and "serial killer" genre clichés were collaborated in quite an original and artistic way (if somewhat unnecessary). However, the fact that I and many others found it so hard to follow and understand (whether due to poor storytelling or the extremely confusing shooting and cinematography) is a shortcoming in my book. Although I did find the cinematography, as well as the use of sound during the flashbacks, to be innovating and impressive. Some of you might find it tacky though.Finally, I really loved the soundtrack, definitely going to look it up! So in conclusion - while this film could have been better, if you manage to look closely and carefully follow every scene you'll probably enjoy it. Won't be easy though!

Whilst the film is beautifully shot and the two adult leads are very good, there was a lot I struggled with. To start, the 3 young teenage actors seemed like they were straight from drama school, but not a good one. The young girl was okay, but the guys were dreadful. Then there was the fact that they as characters were just not right in this film, they seemed out of place and doing things that young middle class school kids just wouldn't do. Would you imagine 3 young well educated kids digging up a body and then rebury it and all done with the same ease as making a cup of tea......Read more at my website: http://iheartfilms.weebly.com/acolytes.html

The teenager Mark (Sebastian Gregory) has a crush on Chasely (Hanna Mangan Lawrence), who is the girlfriend of his best friend James (Joshua Payne) and is always teasing him. Mark and James share a secret: they were raped by the punk bully Gary Parker (Michael Dorman) when they were younger. While wandering in the woods, Mark witnesses a suspicious man with a shovel filling a hole and then sneaking from the place in a 4x4 Discovery with a butterfly cover on the spare tire. Mark tells James and Chasely and they return with shovels to dig the location, where they find the corpse of a woman. Instead of calling the police, they decide to find whether the killer lives. They discover that his name is Ian Wright (Joel Edgerton) and lives in the suburb with his wife and their baby. Mark and James blackmail Ian, ordering him to kill Gary Parker. However, the killer presses Gary and discovers the identities of the teenagers, reverting the situation and disclosing a dark secret about Mark."Acolytes" has a promising beginning with the weird relationship among Mark, James and Chasey and their discovery of the grave of a Caucasian woman. The first unreasonable and absurd situation is when the trio does not call the police and decides to investigate the possible killer. However, the conclusion when Ian teams up with his acolyte is so stupid and unthinkable that irritates. My vote is five.Title (Brazil): "Caçada Sinistra" ("Sinister Hunting")

A rather lame teen slasher from Brisbane. While the plot hinges on a fairly decent idea, the writing is profoundly lame and two of the three main teens are absurdly wooden. The problem is that for the kids to go through with their plan they have to be far more reckless than shown, but if they were that devil-may-care, it would perhaps be hard for them to be likable, so they end up being neither really. In fact, I only started enjoying the film when I started wishing for their death. One of those movies where in about a thousand places the most sensible option would be to call the police. I realise we wouldn't have a movie if they did, but it would be nice if we could believe that they actually wouldn't. Avoid.