Believe

When I rented "Believe", I was expecting some cheesy ghost film. I was pleasantly surprised to find a good story, decent acting, and some actual chills. Even more surprising was the fact that the film makers pulled it off without graphic violence, nudity, or vulgar language which makes "Believe" a good film for the whole family to watch.

A mysterious woman in a red coat keeps making appearances at an old spooky house. Benjamin, a young man recently expelled from school for practical jokes and sent to live with his grandfather, attempts to find out who she is and how he can help her.

The house staff all know about her, but won't talk. The cranky old grandfather vehemently denies she exists. With the help of a girl who lives next door, Ben uncovers old skeletons in the family closet and a tragedy that occurred many years before.

The film is very well done highly recommended for "family movie night". Think of it as "Goosebumps" meets "Are You Afraid Of The Dark" with just a touch more maturity.

This is a nice, family-oriented little ghost story about two teenagers trying to release a ghost from its eternal walking. Much of the film is well-crafted with some solid if not inspiring acting from the whole cast and some interesting, effective direction from Bob Tinnell. Tinnell uses bright colors throughout the film, particularly in the night scenes, creating an obvious homage to Mario Bava and Dario Argento. The story is somewhat adolescent in nature, so if you are looking for blood and guts, look elsewhere. Plot elements are nicely climaxed but fall short in the end. Although the end is a bit weak, I still found myself liking the film quite a bit. Just wondering if anyone found the the climax of the falling branch to be a page out of Saki's "The Interlopers?" Actor Jan Rubes does an excellent job as an embittered yet caring grandfather looking after his grandson with whom he has not seen since five. Look also for a nice cameo by Andrea Martin of SCTV fame as an expert on ghosts. The two teenaged leads were pretty good with Elisha Cuthbert really standing out.

It's never easy being 14 years old, but it's especially tough for Ben Stiles. First, he can't seem to communicate with his absentee parents, diplomats who apparently live overseas. Then he gets kicked out of boarding school after pulling an imaginative but childish ghost prank on his classmates. He's forced to move in with an icy-tempered grandfather he barely knows. And finally he discovers his grandfather's estate is haunted by the eerie specter of a young woman in a red coat. Of course after the ghost prank, no one takes his claims seriously.

Ben (Ricky Mabe) is the point-of-view character of BELIEVE, a new horror film aimed at younger audiences and lensed by director Robert Tinnell, whose previous work includes horror fan favorite FRANKENSTEIN AND ME. Unlike FRANKENSTEIN AND ME, which was essentially a coming-of-age story with horror trappings, BELIEVE is designed to generate real chills – and it delivers. Even veteran horror fans should receive at least a few satisfying shivers from the picture.

As BELIEVE's story progresses, Ben quickly realizes his grandfather (Jan Rubes) isn't telling everything he knows about the mysterious figure in the red coat. Granddad goes ape when he discovers that Ben has enlisted the help of a neighbor girl (Elisha Cuthbert), who has also seen the ghost, in his quest for the truth. The girl's uncle (Ben Gazzara ) is equally upset by this development, and forbids her from seeing Ben. The teenagers realize that somehow their families' histories will unlock the secrets of the Stiles house, and maybe help their phantom finally find peace.

Tinnell refers to BELIEVE as `an entry level horror film.' Pressed for an explanation of this term, he explains: `There's a void for young people -- and older people, too -- who would like quality a quality supernatural experience that isn't misogynist or extremely gory. I was trying to make something like I WALK WITH A ZOMBIE that kids and adults can both look at and be scared without being steamrolled.'

Imagine George Romero shooting a movie for The Wonderful World of Disney and you have some idea of the film's tone. To achieve this effect, Tinnell asked production designer Jules Ricard to decorate his sets in the style of the classic Hammer horrors. Then Tinnell shot his movie much in the mode of Mario Bava. Viewers who know Tinnell only through FRANKENSTEIN AND ME will find BELIEVE a revelation. It's far more visually cohesive than his early work and its use of color is striking. Certainly Tinnell was well served by cinematographer Pierre Jodoin, whose work is imaginative and eloquent. Composer Jerry DeVilliers Jr. sets the mood with a truly haunting score.

Tinnell, a formidable horror film scholar in addition to a gifted young filmmaker, built in several nods toward great ghost pictures of the past. Horror aficionados will appreciate the film's visual references to movies like THE UNINVITED and THE INNOCENTS. BELIEVE also quotes from THE HORROR OF DRACULA and (of all things) THE INVISIBLE GHOST. The director confesses to influences as wide-ranging as Romero's MARTIN and THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN, but his capsule description of BELIEVE is `the Hardy Boys meet Wuthering Heights.'

Tinnell had to bring in the picture on a $2 million budget and a 20-day shooting schedule. To his credit, BELIEVE looks like a much more expensive film. For what it's worth: Many horror publications, from stately Midnight Marquee to splatter-happy Fangoria, have given BELIEVE glowing reviews.

I just finished watching this movie and I think it is one of the best I have seen in a long time. It manages to combine a ghost story, a love story or two, a teenage rivalry, a suspense-thriller, a get-even story, and a "I'm-not-telling" (grin) ending.

Children and adults can both enjoy this film. It manages to avoid any gorey scenes and yet includes plenty of rising suspense and timely comic relief.

The two youthful stars, Ricky and Elisha, are truly great actors and will no doubt have very long, very successful careers. I look forward to seeing them play in more movies soon because they certainly can act. The pair put quite a lot of "punch" into the story, making all aspects of it real and involving.

I really recommend you see this film. I think you will enjoy it no matter what age you are.

Director Robert Tinnell makes "family films," and he makes them well. He has a way of exploring important issues, such as familial communication, trust and loss, by coalescing emotions into a series of subtly potent moments. Oh, and he also loves monster movies. A life-long fan of classic (and not so classic-Believe features two scenes inspired by the 1941 Bela Lugosi Monogrammer The Invisible Ghost!) horror cinema, Tinnell turned his earlier Frankenstein and Me (1996) into a touching homage to growing up with monster movies. So for those of us with children ourselves (or for the monster movie-loving child in all of us), Tinnell makes our kind of movies. And Believe is his even more polished attempt to put some fright (and insight) into family fare. "I wanted to make a film where Hardy Boys meet the Wuthering Heights, and I hope that's what I did," explained Tinnell (who also concocted the film's story line). Indeed he did, with a touch of Val Lewton thrown in for good measure.

Believe centers on Ben Stiles (Ricky Mabe), the 14-year-old son of a diplomat, whose absentee parents have put him in a succession of boarding schools. Ben has a very unusual way to liven things up-he stages elaborate fright gags to scare his fellow pupils. After his latest stunt gets him expelled, he's sent to stay with his estranged grandfather (Jan Rubes), a reserved and imposing man who lives in a large, forbidding mansion. As the two try to establish some sort of relationship, Ben comes to realize that the estate is haunted by the ghost of a young woman-something the grandfather refuses to discuss. With the help of a recently orphaned girl named Katherine (Elisha Cuthbert), Ben attempts to unravel the mystery, leading to a confrontation between his grandfather and Katherine's great uncle (Ben Gazzara) over tragic events that transpired long ago and have affected their lives ever since.

Tinnell fills his film with nice eerie touches; shots of a shadow on a wall, leaves rustling in the wind, and shafts of illuminating moonlight (not to mention some evocative, prowling camerawork) generate an uneasy atmosphere.

"My goal in this one was really to find out if I can scare people," explained Tinnell. "I'm not a guy who runs away from that label; if you point and say 'he's a horror filmmaker,' I say great. So my goal was to prove I could do that."

But there's more to Tinnell's movie than just scaring young 'uns. "My other goal was to do something that would provide an entry level horror film for kids, with a positive message. And again, there's been a theme that's run through all four of my films pretty much: communication, the family. And I thought what better way to demonstrate how just not talking to one another, the damage it does to families. And I really do believe in that." Believe is really a story of families and relationships and the importance of communication-with an engrossing ghost yarn to hang these ten-gallon emotional hats on.

Don't be put off by Believe's so-called target audience. "It's primarily for kids from, say, eight to fourteen-primarily," admits Tinnell. "But I like to think that children of all ages, from eight to eighty, can enjoy this film. I think the best family films-this is not a children's film, obviously-I think the best family films are the ones in which the parents are sitting and watching with the kids, which is what they should be doing anyway, but don't.. I think that it works for all ages." Indeed it does.

Tinnell's heart (and, given the finished product, head) is in the right place. "I'm not going to condescend to the kids," emphasizes the director. "They deserve a good scare. Nowadays if they want to see any kind of contemporary horror, there's so much misogyny and just gratuitous bloodletting-and it's just not scary and there's no real supernaturalism. I just wanted to make a film that if I was 12 I would have loved.

In the movie, Ben explains why he stages his terror tricks by observing, "People like to be scared." Yes they do, and here Tinnell has offered up his own fright frolic, with some important ideas and involving sentiments thrown in for good measure. Aimed at those monster movie lovers who've grown up and had kids of their own (as well as those who've never really grown up at all), Believe is a sometimes scary, often affecting and always entertaining movie for the whole family. And that is a rare commodity these days.