The Soul Collector (2019)

An old man, fated to collect souls for eternity, seeks atonement after trading his daughter's soul.

Director:

Harold Holscher (as Harold Hölscher)

Writers:

Harold Holscher (as Harold Hölscher), Johannes Ferdinand Van Zyl

Stars:

Tshamano Sebe, Inge Beckmann, Keita Luna

22 wins & 2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Tshamano Sebe	...	Lazarus
Inge Beckmann	...	Sarah
Keita Luna	...	Mary
Garth Breytenbach	...	William
Chris April	...	Obara
Luxolo Ndabedi	...	Suno
Owam Amey	...	Vuyiswa
Sindiwe Magona	...	Suno's Mother
Graham Clarke	...	William's Father
Eve Maxagazo	...	Uthuli
Andy Crawford	...	Mary's Mother
Jac Williams	...	Mary's Father
Andries Brink	...	Sara's Doctor
Maphiko Ncedani	...	Man 1
Sibusiso Njonga	...	Man 2

Storyline

Bankruptcy forces William Ziel to return to the farm he inherited from his estranged father in an attempt to start a new life with his young, fragmented family. Lazarus, the farm hand who took care of William's father Frederick in his lonely final hours, reappears soon after William, Sarah and adopted daughter Mary, arrive at Hemelop- Aarde. A supposed chance meeting between Mary and Lazarus develops into a bond between two kindred spirits. But Lazarus, the old soul who struggles to find peace in this place of sad memories, carries a dark secret that constantly haunts him: the demon child with its insatiable appetite for human souls that weighs so heavily in the sack he carries everywhere with him. Despite Sarah's misgivings, this unfathomable character wins over William and Mary. At first, Sarah's apprehension seems unfounded but, judging by the reaction of the local community to his return from wanderings afar, she may be right and the Ziels' newfound domesticity could be at risk. A...

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Plot Keywords:

soul | 

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Taglines:

Fear is only the beginning

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Genres:

Horror

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Certificate:

Not Rated

Did You Know?

Trivia

In the opening scenes it states, 1977. But the Mercedes driven is a model 123 made from 1983 upwards.

User Reviews

Very slow moving, moody lore based Horror Story. Beautifully crafted, but somehow ultimately lacking...

This is kind of a hard one to write about. If it were just the story alone and it had not been so well technically put together, I probably wouldn't have even bothered to write a review about it.

The story itself is basically pretty simple. You definitely will need subtitles for the non-English parts so you will be able to understand what the indigenous people are saying and dealing with, not to mention some important dialog between Lazarus and his, uh... companion. If you do not have subtitles, then you will not be able to follow the story very well, unless of course you happen to speak the South African language that is being spoken : )

I think one of the reviews that I read on one of the sites I normally check for films like this stated that he felt that this film had one of the best openings he had ever seen. I would agree. But, I don't feel it ever really reaches that level of intensity from that point on. And, FWIW, the cinematography, lighting, and editing are are done extremely well. The scenic shots are lovely. This is a VERY beautiful looking movie. BUT... in my lowly and wretched opinion I feel that although crafted really, really well, and the acting by the primary Lazarus was outstanding (the girl, not so much...) ultimately, to me the story was not really quite substantial enough or fully satisfying to fill it out completely. It was okay and certainly not terrible, and like I've mentioned, technically executed really well. I just don't think that it really packed the 'punch' that it could have. It kind of went in a more Metaphysical, ethereal direction as opposed to cranking up the intensity, which with this kind of Horror film I think would have worked better. The very, very ending though, not mentioning anything specific of course, but the ending at the very last moment is a little bit of a Gobsmack, but I didn't really quite understand it. As a matter of fact, I was just now kind of scouring the Internet to see if I could find some opinions or explanations about what it meant : )

Anyway, honestly not a film that I would get hugely excited about, I gave it a '6' which for me is just about at the borderline of maybe being worth a look. But, I really DID think it was a very beautiful movie and it was constructed very well, so I thought that it was at least worth a mention here...

I would say that if you truly don't mind extremely slow and fairly simply plotted films and you appreciate beautiful photography and some light but decent atmosphere AND you are not expecting a lot, then you might find this one mildly enjoyable.

Details

Official Sites:

Instagram Official Twitter

Country:

South Africa

Language:

English Tswana

Release Date:

18 October 2019 (USA)

Also Known As:

8: A South African Horror Story

Box Office

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$142,725

Company Credits

Production Co:

Man Makes a Picture Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

100 min

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.39:1