Horsemen starts as forensic odontoligist detective Aiden Breslin (Dennis Quaid) is called to a crime scene, an old man walking his dog found a bunch of human teeth on a tray & Breslin is called in to identify who they belonged to. Breslin takes note of the message 'Come and See' written around the crime scene, while investigating the teeth the dead body of a woman is found with the same 'Come and See' message written at the scene. Breslin & his partner Stingray (Clifton Collins Jr.) find a dead woman suspended on hooks from a metal frame having been choked on her own blood. Breslin manages to deduct that whoever is committing the crimes are basing themselves on the biblical Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse & what they stand for in religion. Breslin is convinced more bodies will turn up & when they do the case gets even more complicated with all sorts of revelations, meanings & possible motives behind the killings...

Known elsewhere as Horsemen of the Apocalypse this dark horror thriller was directed by Jonas Åkerlund & had a troubled production with extensive re-shoots, one character had to be recast because the original actor was unavailable & a running time that ended up twenty minutes less than it originally was was reeks of massive changes but having said that & all things considered I quite liked Horsemen. I suppose the closest film I could compare Horsemen to is Se7en (1995) in that it's a thriller about detectives unravelling the mystery surrounding brutal & ritualistic serial killings, while not in the same league as Se7en (but what is?) I liked the story, I liked where the story went & I particularly like the motives behind the bizarre killings even though Horsemen does have it's share of problems & frustrations. There are obviously a few plot-holes that probably stemmed from those extensive re-shoots & some of the initially cool ideas from the script lose credibility if you think about them for a moment. How did the killers move those giant metal suspension frames abut without being seen? What happened to the surveillance camera at the hotel? What happened to the girl in the closet Breslin found? Are we supposed to believe that a teenager can puncture a lung with accuracy that a trained surgeon couldn't? Are we meant to believe that a father hasn't been inside his son's bedroom for over three years? There are other points which are maybe not as well defined or explained or as clear as perhaps they could have been, some of the how's & why's are missing to certain aspects. Having said that I liked the way Horsemen built up, I liked the story & even if the twist ending is a bit abrupt I liked the idea behind it even if I found it impossible to feel for the killer's plight, just because you are wronged in some way doesn't mean you can torture & brutally kill anyone you feel like, does it? At about 90 odd minutes long Horsemen starts off very well with a rich & suspenseful murder mystery but then it tends to focus on Breslin's family life which in the context of the twist ending is important but it slow's things down & I started to lose a bit of interest as the focus moved further & further from the killing's.

The film tries to have a relevant message about society, abuse & neglect in particular I suppose which does come across reasonably well. I did like the way Horsemen looked, it's a very slick & stylish looking film using snow covered locations to good effect. There's some gore here, people are seen hanging by fish hooks, a guy slices himself open with an electric saw, there are a few autopsy scenes & there's a dead unborn baby in one bit.

With a supposed $20,000,000 budget this had a very limited theatrical release before being dumped on home video, filmed in Canada originally while the significant re-shoots were filmed in Chicago. The acting is solid all round, Dennis Quiad is good although he does look a little like Harrison Ford.

Horsemen isn't a perfect film by any mans although I can live with the flaw's since there's also plenty of good aspects here too, at least it's not boring & at least it tries to be different even if it's not entirely successful. There's certain enough here to warrant a look, it's not the greatest serial killer thriller ever but there are a lot worse films out there.

What is happening to Dennis Quaid? Seriously now, he is playing the role of the distant father more and more and he plays in worse and worse movies. I like the guy! Cast him in something decent!

As for the movie, it kind of sucked. I mean, the mythos behind the killings was shabby, the police-work ridiculous and, worst of all, I could not relate to ANY of the characters except Dennis Quaid's one... part of the time. And the casting just reveals too much.

Bottom line: if you take Seven, you make it a lot less gruesome, you add cardboard policemen and even cardboard villains, you dumb it down considerably, then you get The Horsemen. Gave it a 6 only for Zhang's efforts on speaking English.

In a cold Washington, the widower Detective Aidan Breslin (Dennis Quaid) is assigned to investigate a case based on his forensic expertise in teeth. Sooner he finds a series of dreadful murders with the victims in suspension rigs based on the Biblical Revelation 6 – Come and See – and the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse: Famine, Pestilence, Death and War with the involvement of abused teenagers. Meanwhile Aidan never has time to spend with his two sons that are still grieving the loss of their mother.

"Horsemen" has a promising beginning in the style of "Se7en". However, the unpleasant and predictable story is quite pointless and has a disappointing and lame conclusion. Dennis Quaid is too old to have young sons and Ziyi Zhang is too old to perform the role of a young woman; therefore, both are miscast. Further, with so many maladjusted teenagers in the world, the insane idea of this movie might be quite dangerous for disturbed youths. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): "Os Cavaleiros do Apocalipse" ("The Horsemen of the Apocalypse")