Is that a weird freaky cultist being interviewed on the telly? Welcome to the world of Believers.
It has to be said that this film isn't bad but it isn't great either.
After the early introduction of a TV interview the action moves to the County Fire Department, the fire chief telling one of our heroes, Victor, to, "eat his own lunch" obviously a problem in this fire house. Acting at the beginning is of numerous types of wood. Fortunately Victor and Dave (two of the less wooden ones) get sent off to deal with a woman who fainted.
I don't really know the structure of County Fire Departments in the US but do they really do ambulance work? Here they find a mother and daughter (the best actor in the film) the mother having tattoos that Victor notes "Never seen tattoo's like that before", possibly because they were drawn on with a marker.
Then suddenly the evil garage owner has rung the cultists and they turn up and take them captive. Why the garage owner waited until now to contact them and why the cultists take them with them is unknown, but take them they do.
We then enter the conversion phase where they try and convince them, indeed this is the main part of the movie.
Oh I forgot Victor is shot. Not terminally.
Dave makes some abysmally weak attempts to test the wire mesh and you wonder why he doesn't brace himself against the wall and kick it through. You also wonder why he doesn't use the cistern lid. (Carefully removed in the other cells).
We go back to the girls mother who goes through full conversion while the cultists complain that her daughter shouldn't be here (erm put her somewhere else).
Then back to Dave, Victor a completely unconcerned Fire Chief, even though his men have been missing for ages and the obligatory Dave's wife ringing him to find out where he is shot. You wonder how long the emergency services are going to wait before reacting. I also thought emergency vehicles had tracers.
Dave continues to fail to note he has a cistern lid to use as a weapon. Victor's strong faith seems to be put to the test with the merest nod of his history being revealed and the viewer is possibly left a bit perplexed by why they might be watching this.
As the Chief comes to find his men the garage attendant uses a monkey wrench to disable the radio which part of this cult of elite scientists did he belong to and then takes out the chief who manages to miss a huge fire vehicle in a garage at point blank range for longer than any normal human.
The big cheese finally talks to Dave and Victor to reveal Victor trained as a priest. Victor is alarmed and wonders how he knew as he has not told anyone. I assume the church keep records.
On return to the cells Dave fails to use the cistern lid again and then tells them to stitch Victor's bullet wound a puncture wound shouldn't be stitched.
Victor then falls for the old conversion by sex routine (the girls mother and general titillation for some watching) and Dave finally after another pathetic attempt to break from his cell finally does what the audience wants and uses the cistern lid. Hooray.
Rebecca (mother) sure fire conversion seems to be failing (possibly being used as a sex tool by these great minds) and I began to ask exactly why the cult needed her and her daughter back.
However they make an escape, Dave and Libby (daughter) and drive the ambulance for what seems a few yards, driving onto a dirt track why not stay on the road? to find a view over the city. Again weren't they miles out and hard to find. The four wheel drive vehicle then gets stuck in dirt. Well they had to be captured somehow! The leader (called "Teacher") who initially said he couldn't see anyone due to infection is suddenly out amongst his people and tells Dave that they, "Don't kill" ending his rant with the fact that he'll "see he (Dave) is put to sleep." Vic's sexual exploits have obviously taken their toll as he is now in a wheelchair and has had the fastest tattoo (cult symbol on back of neck that represents their individualism in the universe or it's just a Greek letter!) obviously that marker again.
They escape, except Victor who can't break the conditioning no wonder he failed as a priest. They had to really and social services leave Libby in Dave's care, because you would wouldn't you? The ending is good, I want to know which film they nicked the special effect from and all in all the films not bad.
Music and direction are more than adequate but someone should have looked into the continuity and filed off all the sharp edges that didn't make sense.
You're always limited by your budget and they used it well and the end product is enjoyable but by no means perfect.
It has to be said that this film isn't bad but it isn't great either.
After the early introduction of a TV interview the action moves to the County Fire Department, the fire chief telling one of our heroes, Victor, to, "eat his own lunch" obviously a problem in this fire house. Acting at the beginning is of numerous types of wood. Fortunately Victor and Dave (two of the less wooden ones) get sent off to deal with a woman who fainted.
I don't really know the structure of County Fire Departments in the US but do they really do ambulance work? Here they find a mother and daughter (the best actor in the film) the mother having tattoos that Victor notes "Never seen tattoo's like that before", possibly because they were drawn on with a marker.
Then suddenly the evil garage owner has rung the cultists and they turn up and take them captive. Why the garage owner waited until now to contact them and why the cultists take them with them is unknown, but take them they do.
We then enter the conversion phase where they try and convince them, indeed this is the main part of the movie.
Oh I forgot Victor is shot. Not terminally.
Dave makes some abysmally weak attempts to test the wire mesh and you wonder why he doesn't brace himself against the wall and kick it through. You also wonder why he doesn't use the cistern lid. (Carefully removed in the other cells).
We go back to the girls mother who goes through full conversion while the cultists complain that her daughter shouldn't be here (erm put her somewhere else).
Then back to Dave, Victor a completely unconcerned Fire Chief, even though his men have been missing for ages and the obligatory Dave's wife ringing him to find out where he is shot. You wonder how long the emergency services are going to wait before reacting. I also thought emergency vehicles had tracers.
Dave continues to fail to note he has a cistern lid to use as a weapon. Victor's strong faith seems to be put to the test with the merest nod of his history being revealed and the viewer is possibly left a bit perplexed by why they might be watching this.
As the Chief comes to find his men the garage attendant uses a monkey wrench to disable the radio which part of this cult of elite scientists did he belong to and then takes out the chief who manages to miss a huge fire vehicle in a garage at point blank range for longer than any normal human.
The big cheese finally talks to Dave and Victor to reveal Victor trained as a priest. Victor is alarmed and wonders how he knew as he has not told anyone. I assume the church keep records.
On return to the cells Dave fails to use the cistern lid again and then tells them to stitch Victor's bullet wound a puncture wound shouldn't be stitched.
Victor then falls for the old conversion by sex routine (the girls mother and general titillation for some watching) and Dave finally after another pathetic attempt to break from his cell finally does what the audience wants and uses the cistern lid. Hooray.
Rebecca (mother) sure fire conversion seems to be failing (possibly being used as a sex tool by these great minds) and I began to ask exactly why the cult needed her and her daughter back.
However they make an escape, Dave and Libby (daughter) and drive the ambulance for what seems a few yards, driving onto a dirt track why not stay on the road? to find a view over the city. Again weren't they miles out and hard to find. The four wheel drive vehicle then gets stuck in dirt. Well they had to be captured somehow! The leader (called "Teacher") who initially said he couldn't see anyone due to infection is suddenly out amongst his people and tells Dave that they, "Don't kill" ending his rant with the fact that he'll "see he (Dave) is put to sleep." Vic's sexual exploits have obviously taken their toll as he is now in a wheelchair and has had the fastest tattoo (cult symbol on back of neck that represents their individualism in the universe or it's just a Greek letter!) obviously that marker again.
They escape, except Victor who can't break the conditioning no wonder he failed as a priest. They had to really and social services leave Libby in Dave's care, because you would wouldn't you? The ending is good, I want to know which film they nicked the special effect from and all in all the films not bad.
Music and direction are more than adequate but someone should have looked into the continuity and filed off all the sharp edges that didn't make sense.
You're always limited by your budget and they used it well and the end product is enjoyable but by no means perfect.