Believe

Plot synopsis:
In 1984  Salford, Georgie Gallagher lives with his widowed mother Erica (Natascha McElhone). His passion for football is challenged by Erica’s desire to have Georgie attend the prestigious, rugby-playing Lancashire Grammar School For Boys, run by the strict and scholarly Dr Farquar (Toby Stephens). Georgie is up for scholarship at the prestigious school pending on his passing of the entrance exam.
Whilst attending an open day at the school, Georgie sees a leaflet for a regional Manchester Junior Football Cup tournament. Determined to enter and beat the team of school bullies, Georgie snatches a wallet from a stranger in the hopes of getting the £20 entrance fee. The stranger happens to be an elderly Sir Matt Busby (Brian Cox), and after tracking him down along with the help of his friend Bob (Philip Jackson), the pair learn that Georgie is an unusually talented footballer. Matt and Georgie reach an agreement whereby Matt will coach Georgie’s football team in exchange for silence over his theft.
Still needing the money to enter the football tournament, Georgie attempts to break into Dr Farquar’s house in order to steal back the tuition fee that Erica had been paying in order to ensure Georgie’s passes his entrance exam to the grammar school. He is caught and arrested, and banned from playing football as punishment.
The team finds an article in the paper about Sir Matt Busby and realize that their coach is the famous manager of the legendary Manchester United team. Feeling betrayed by his team and Sir Matt Busby for not revealing his true identity before, Georgie quits the team and refuses to play in the final. Georgie is deeply hurt, feeling that all adults undoubtedly end up lying to him.
On the day of Sir Matt Busby’s 75th birthday, the team gears up to play the final, while Georgie takes his exam with hopes of passing and receiving his scholarship. Georgie urges Erica to attend the final to cheer on the team. Without their leader, the team is down by 2 goals. In a moment of grace, Dr. Farquar interrupts the game with his beloved brass band, while Erica rushes to get Georgie to play the second half of the match. Georgie confides in his mother and says he wants to win the cup in honour of his late father. In the final moments of the game Georgie scores with a direct free kick to win the cup.

Tags: horror, prank

Review:
Wonderful suspenseful ghost thriller for all ages.
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.
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.
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..
decent ghost story,though not very intense(very family friendly).
i didn't find this movie too bad.i was expecting something more intense.this is a fairly family friendly ghost story and there's nothing wrong with that.Elisha Cuthbert is the leading female character,while Ricky Mabe(whose career so far has been mostly TV series and a one or two TV movies)is the lead male character.the acting is fine,and the movie has bit of an eerie feel to it.however,i didn't really buy into the reason for the ghost haunting the estate.it just seemed too weak of an explanation to me.other than that,i don't have any major gripe with movie.like i said,it's pretty lite family fare,so you want see any blood or violence,and there's no bad language that i recall.it's rated PG for thematic material,but i don't think too many children over ten would have a problem with it.for me,"Believe" is a 7/10.
Such seems to be the situation one witnesses in "Believe", directed by Robert Tinnell, and based on a screen play by Roc LaFortune and Richard Gaudreau.Ben Stiles (Ricky Mabe) a teen ager whose parents are too busy and keep him in private boarding schools, decide to send him to spend some time with his grandfather Jason (Jan Ruber), a wealthy man living along in a majestic estate.
No sooner is Ben installed in the mansion when he begins seeing a woman clad in red, a ghost, who seems to be all over the place.
His grandfather doesn't want to talk about its existence, at all; yet the mystery continues.Ben meets a beautiful neighbor, Katherine Winslow (Elisha Cuthbert) who lives nearby with an unmarried uncle, Ellicott (Ben Gazzara).
Ben and Katherine, who also has seen the ghost, try to get to the bottom of the mystery, until they hit a sore spot in both Jason and Ellicott.
Both older men live with bitterness in their hearts because each one blame the other for the death of Jason's sister Margaret, the ghost, years ago.
Ben and Katherine keep on investigating until the tragedy of Margaret's death is revealed."Believe" has some good moments.
The acting serves the story and the film is easy to look at and will entertain anyone looking for a moderately good time.
Good spooky fun for the whole family.
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.
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".
Thad is only in the movie for a very short time, and he plays Ben's father.
It's Benjamin played by Ricky Mabe who goes to live with his grandfather who he barely knows.
I have seen that movie a million times with a million different titles.
It seemed as tho the director got together a few people off the street who had no acting experience and made them star in his movie.
The only good thing I can say about this movie is that it's shot very nicely.
The box in the rental store made it look like a horror film for adults, not some tame ghost story you could show on the Disney Channel.
Other than the overall atmosphere the film has, the only other redeeming quality if the beautiful Elisha Cuthbert who played Katherine, and did probably the best acting job in the entire film.
The movie is not a horror film as the box implies, but instead a kid's ghost story that could be very watchable by children, but no other age groups.
The acting and unoriginal story will be enough to keep anyone over the age of 12 away from this movie..
After being continually kicked out of boarding schools, Ben (Ricky Mabe) is sent to live with his stern Grandfather in a small town.
While there, no one is interested in him with the exception of a girl named Kathrine (Elisha Cuthbert).Really, the only thing going for this film is the cast.
Ben Gazzara is always a joy, even if he serves no real purpose in this movie (his role could have been filled by anyone).
There is no way that anyone would have thought within a very short time she would become a sex symbol thanks to "The Girl Next Door" (2004).The story and everything else is rather bland, and seems like it was made for TV, possibly for young adults or children.
Very Good Movie.
I remember watching this movie 9 years ago and almost forgot how good this movie was ...not scary at all ..a very decent ghost story with good acting especially Benjamin stiles as Ricky mabe ...its sad that these days they don't make movies like they used to make...a perfect movie which can be watched with your family on Sunday afternoon ...watch it if you like ghost stories.....can anybody tell where I can find the movie DVD or can even watch it online as it been ages I haven't watched this movie desperately wanna watch it....loved this movie ..you won't get bored watching this movie again and again ...believe it..
A scary, affecting and entertaining movie for the whole family..
Director Robert Tinnell makes "family films," and he makes them well.
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.
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 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.
"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.
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.
It's never easy being 14 years old, but it's especially tough for Ben Stiles.
Then he gets kicked out of boarding school after pulling an imaginative but childish ghost prank on his classmates.
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.
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.
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.
Believe is actually a film that more or less is "straight to video" or "tv movie" type.
But in a strange way, it is a pretty good family friendly film.
Pretty dumb, but it's so obvious that the "young lovers" will soon have an enchanting moment.Ah yes, definitely a film for all.
This movie has a haunting spirits and a memorable story that should entertain the whole family.
A somewhat romantic twist weaved into the movie adds to the nice story.
I found this to be a very good spooky mild horror film to keep your attention to the very END!It is nice to see they do make movies with a good memorable story line that thrill and scares us only to be vying for more.It does have a PG-13 rating for it may scare the younger viewers a little too much.Spooky!
"Believe" is somewhat decent, if a completely non-threatening horror film.**SPOILERS**Expelled from school, teenage Ben Stiles, (Ricky Mabe) is sent off to live with his grandfather Jason, (Jan Rubes) on his estate.
Reprimanded for pulling his pranks, he meets neighbor Katherine Winslow, (Elisha Cuthbert) and helps her to get even with some local goons.
As they defy the orders and continue on seeing each other, they come across a possible ghost on the property.
Finding that there's a reason for the haunting and work together to help the ghost get what they want.The Good News: This one here wasn't all that terrible.
The fact remains that there's still some really good stuff in here when it gets to the horror attempts.
It's pretty inventive and creative, really goes all-out and contains some great spots that are a real joy to watch.
The fact that the setting itself is really great makes it all the better, since making it work in a really lame house would be a real challenge.
The only other fact that works for the film is the fact that there's some great back-story for the ghost.
This could be a real life occurrence and winds up being one of the best things about the film.
There's hardly any scares involved as it tries to go for the family approach and doesn't even come close to doing anything about it.
This failing is pretty much the only thing wrong with the film, as the rating will negate what real horror films should do.The Final Verdict: While not exactly a sterling example of the genre, it's a pretty decent film overall.
Really only for those who enjoy the more light and harmless horror affairs, while those who need scares, brutality, sleaze or anything more traditional horror films have are well advised to leave this one alone.Rated PG: Mild Violence.
Misbilled as a horror movie.
It's a soggy waste of a ghost story.
The grandfather's mansion is really nice and they should have used it more.
If you're looking for a Brady Bunch movie with a ghost, this is it.
If you were looking for horror and scares, forget it.
Movie is decent except for the horrible acting by the main character.
It does have a few good scares and jumps in it, ghost girl isn't at all what i expected either but they made it work.
Locations and houses in the movie are gorgeous.
I still think they could of picked a few better actors for the roles too, you can tell the boys aren't very strong because it contstantly seemed like they were reading from a script.
All in all it was an okay movie if you can sit through the horrible acting in some parts.