5.3/10
Senior Film Conservator

A definitive 5.3/10 rating for a film that redefined the boundaries of cult cinema. Believe it or Don't remains a cornerstone of transgressive art.
Honestly, it depends on how much you like watching a man struggle with inanimate objects. If you want a smooth story, skip this. If you want to see the weirdest special effects from a century ago, pull up a chair.
People who love Spuk um Mitternacht for its odd atmosphere will get a kick out of this. If you find old silent films boring, this will probably just annoy you to no end. 😵💫
Charles R. Bowers isn't acting like he’s in a movie; he’s acting like he’s fighting a war against physics. There’s this one sequence where he’s messing with tools and machinery that just feels impossibly tactile.
You keep waiting for the cut, but it never comes. He’s just there, neck-deep in clutter. It makes the shiny, CGI-heavy stuff we get today feel a bit hollow, honestly.
It’s not as polished as Oh Kay!, but that’s exactly why I like it. It feels like a project someone made in their garage before they realized they were supposed to be making a 'proper' film.
There is a scene where a box just... does things. I won't spoil it, but it’s the kind of thing that makes you rewind just to see if your brain played a trick on you.
Sometimes, the movie stops making sense entirely. One minute we’re here, the next we’re watching a pile of junk transform into something else. It’s messy. It’s loud in its own silent way.
Don't look for a lesson. Don't look for character growth. Just watch the gears turn. Sometimes that's enough for a Tuesday night. 🎞️