Dead Souls

Starts a decent haunted house film. About halfway through it starts becoming fairly silly. Definitely a movie for when you have absolutely nothing else to watch.

I can't blame this movie for much. It is a typical horror movie for this age, where the script is a random mix of other films of the genre, the horror is done via camera angle tricks, the bloody scenes or the nudity are removed and most of the movie is people not understanding what is going on or running around like headless chickens when they do. But I've seen so many films like this that it doesn't bother me anymore. It's not scary either, though.

I loved the Osiris and Jesus angle and, while the rest of the story made no sense, the idea that modern gods are just knockoffs of the old ones seemed really funny. They could have done something with this other than a bunch of homicidal hillbillies looking for eternal life. I am sure they didn't intend it to be funny, but it was for me.

Bottom line: This film is so incredibly average that it becomes mere background noise. There were a few ideas in it that could have made an impact, but I am sure none of the creators of the film actually cared. The highlight of the movie has to be Magda Apanowicz, who is cute as hell, even if her character is a complete mess.

Upon his 18th birthday, a young man receives a mysterious phone call telling him to come out to a property he just inherited. Now, he will learn about his true past and the dark secrets of his family.

I would first like to point out that director Colin Theys is under 30, and has already accumulated a decent amount of credits. Now, they may not be big projects and he may not be the next big thing in horror. However, "Dead Souls" was better than average and I think we might be seeing Theys moving up in the world very soon.

The film as a whole has a creepy atmosphere and preys on the connection between God, faith and how far we will go for what we believe in. Other stories have told this tale with varying degrees of success. Here, I think we have a new angle -- the protagonist, despite being born into such a home, is completely unaware of it and experiencing everything for the first time. He is an outsider as much as an insider.

Not all of the acting is great, and some of the characters are a bit random and show up without reason. Even Emma seems to be thrown in there for nothing more than a romantic interest. I do have to single out Bill Moseley as doing an excellent job. He gets roles in many bad films and gives performances to match. Here, I think he gives it his all.

There were two reasons for why I sat down to watch "Dead Souls", the first and most obvious one was the fact that it is a horror movie, given my life-long romance with the horror genre. But the most important reason was because Bill Moseley was on the cast list.

Let's get on with it then, shall we?

While the storyline had potential, I was sitting with an overwhelming sense of 'was that really it?' once the movie ended. It felt like director Colin Theys hardly utilized all the potential that the storyline had. And that was a shame because it crippled the overall viewing experience of the movie.

There wasn't much of any noteworthy or worthwhile horror elements in "Dead Souls" that haven't already been seen countless times in other movies. So for a seasoned horror veteran as myself, this was hardly an illuminating horror experience.

The acting in the movie was adequate, just keep in mind that the cast ensemble is rather small and limited, so there is a lot riding on the shoulders of the performers. They fared adequately, I would say. Nothing memorable though. And Bill Moseley, while he was in the movie, he was a mere support cast in the movie. So they made the most famous person and a horror icon nonetheless into a mere support character in the movie. No, just no. That was a blow to the movie that dragged down the enjoyment, especially since he only had a limited screen time as well.

I managed to sit through the entire movie, waiting for something extraordinary to happen or for the movie to pick up its pacing and throw something unexpected my way... It just never happened, and as such then my rating of "Dead Souls" is a less than mediocre one; four out of ten stars.

This is hardly a movie that made an impression in the horror genre. I am sure come next week, then I will already have forgotten about it. Nor is it a movie that you will watch more than once.

Johnny Petrie (Jesse James) inherits a farm from his estranged birth family. He intends to sell the place and finds a squatter named Emma (Magda Apanowicz). Mary Petrie (Geraldine Hughes) is a disturbed patient.

The filmmaking is somewhat clunky with a few interesting horror scenes. The story is a muddle when it should be a simple telling. The premise is messy. When it gets to the reveal, it suddenly adds a bunch of stuff coming out of left field. On the other hand, the actors are fine. I've always like Apanowicz. I like Moseley. Even the bad actors are not that bad. The failure is mostly in the filmmaking.