Lost Souls

winona ryder rarely fails to take you to the exact place where your fear (of childhood in other movies and religion in this) is born and leaves you there, standing on the edge of a cliff wondering if you'll end up jumping or not and you sort of dangle there till the end of the movie (yet if you own a sensible mind, the images will haunt you in your sleep). the movie itself is not that scary in my eye, but it does give you enough insight to let your own doubts and questions lead you to where your true fear may lie and this is the real appeal of the movie, so yeah, i recommend it.

Winona had just had a big hit with "Girl Interrupted," and Ben Chaplin was impressive doing Montgomery Cliff's "The Heiress" part in "Washington Square." So what possessed them to do a cheesy "Exorcist" meets "the Omen" and "Rosemary's Baby" formula movie? In any case, the movie has a good opening twenty minutes and promises real scary stuff to come. You don't know anything about the characters or what's going on and that makes it a little frustrating, but you can forgive the movie for that. Unfortunately, the movie becomes less scary the more the silly plot and characters gets revealed. Probably the silliest moment comes when Winona tells Ben that he fits the profile for the "antichrist" because he's never been baptized. It is hard to see how Winona Horowitz could say such a thing with a straight face.

Apparently the first time director is a great cinematographer. That is usually not such a good thing. Yes, Stanley Kubrick did make the transition, but most cinematographers are too concerned with the lighting and have no idea how to direct actors. That turns out to be the case here, where everybody is just doing monotone line readings.

I confess my love for Winona, but even her presence only makes the film barely watchable and not quite enjoyable or fun.

This movie was one of the few that really scared me. It has many moments of actual horror. You can feel the horror surrounding you. It swallows you, almost. Maya Larkin (Winona Ryder) was once possessed by demons. She now helps priests in performing exorcisms. When she finds a name in a numerical code, she must hunt down and convince a skeptic that he is destined to become the anti-christ. This was a very creepy movie. I like the camera-work in it aswell. It makes it look like an older film. I especially like the ending. It was dark and gloomy. I thought it was great. This is a scary movie that people will look back on one day and see it as the year 2000's THE EXORCIST. Altough it got little time out in theaters, this is a movie that I feel will be something some day. LOST SOULS: 5/5.

The fact that so many people hated this film comes as no surprise to me, but not, I believe, because it was a bad film. On the contrary this was a superb film that has, for those willing to look beneath the surface, a much deeper story to be told.

Simply put, the film is not 'feel-good'. The subject matter is disturbing, and challenges one's view of religion and belief in the existence of God and Satan.

As we are taken through the film, the director immerses us in the world Maya Larkin (played very well by Winona Ryder), a person who has previously been demonically possessed. She discovers that a semi-famous author, Peter Kelson (played by Ben Chaplin) is about to become the antichrist incarnate, and obviously sets out to prevent this event.

The plot develops slowly, but inevitably. Excellent use of sound and lighting create a chilling atmosphere, in which it becomes difficult to separate reality from the horrors which the victims have to face. As we approach the climax of the film, things start happening faster and faster, and the plot becomes intentionally a bit confusing. As an audience we are made to empathize with the lead characters as they realise time is running out and their course of action remains unclear, and that all they can do is ride along and try to figure out what is happening before it is too late.

The themes drawn upon in this film are very similar to those in "End of Days" but with far more emphasis placed on the psychological drama - more like "Stigmata" - than on the action and special effects of "End of Days", making Lost Souls in my opinion a far better film.

Be prepared for a major plot twist at the end. The director does not state the obvious, yet we are given clues throughout the film, many of which make little or no sense at the time they are portrayed, but which snap into place if you get the ending. The sudden conclusion and lack of any final explanation communicate the intent clearly enough and left me feeling a bit blown away - although in my opinion left most of the audience feeling confused and let down, expecting more and wondering what happened.

If you can appreciate a well crafted, and subtle film, and prefer a movie that makes you think, and does not necessarily have happy messages, then you should enjoy this film. It forces you into thinking about it, and by no means classifies as light entertainment. If you go to movies to be entertained by action and easy to follow plots, then stay clear - this film was never intended to appeal to most people.

Personally I have seen far too many of those films in recent months and found Lost Souls to be remarkably refreshing.

The majority of the reviewers of this film were looking for a movie that isn't there at the expenses of seeing the movie that is. Lost Souls is a tightly wound question balanced on the edge of a knife: Is Maya a psycho killer or the savior of mankind? Given the fact that most psycho killers believe they are saviors of mankind, I opt for the psycho killer interpretation. The movie, which is a continuous balancing of the question, never letting up on clues that raise the question further, opts to let us decide. It allows Maya to walk away from the car after murdering the person she had convinced was the devil. At the fade out, one wonders how she had managed to get away with murdering her parents and how many more she will murder before she is finally stopped.

Ryder, whose eyes have always been a vehicle for her acting, uses them chillingly in the scene in which she murders Father Lareaux. Studying Ryder's evolving facial expressions as Maya finds out that the Father won't support her delusions, takes action, and then gloats at the outcome will convince anyone she's crazy.

An incredible performance. Or the way she handles the scene in which Kelson, her intended victim, casts back to his past to test if he really could be the devil. Kaminski bolsters it with the imagery of a deer caught in the headlights of an oncoming car unknowingly escaping, for the moment.

Adding up the body count just bolsters the psycho killer interpretation. By her own hand, she kills: the murderer George Viznik, brain dead; Kelson's girlfriend, Claire Van Owen; Father Lareaux and Kelson himself. Murders at her instigation: the investigator, John Townsend; Kelson's uncle/father; and Kelson's brother.

Take a second look. Watch Maya's eyes. Ask yourself at every turn, is this about the devil, or is this about the here and now, a psycho killer walking invisibly among us.