The genre of religious-based horror films continues to grow out of hand with “Lost Souls,” Janusz Kaminski’s new “The Exorcist” wanna-be.
Starring Winona Ryder (“Heathers,” “Girl, Interrupted”) and Ben Chaplin (“The Thin Red Line,” “The Remains of the Day”), this film sits atop a stack of recent religious thriller duds including “End of Days,” “Bless the Child,” “The Ninth Gate” and “Stigmata” - only it deserves to be on the bottom.
The script, written by Pierce Gardner, seems to have some interesting points that are more or less ignored to make room for others. These include substories surrounding Ryder’s character, Maya Larkin, and other character-developing issues pushed aside by the supposedly spooky ways in which the story unfolds.
The semi-interesting story follows Larkin after she decodes the scribblings of a possessed man and finds out that a dark prophecy is at work. According to the decoded message, Satan is going to take over the body of a man, creating the Antichrist. Larkin finds the man to be crime reporter and author Peter Kelson, played by Chaplin.
Not only is the story a little shallow, it seems to be thrown together from a bunch of ideas drawn from other movies in the genre. And even that stitchwork is bad. Character development is low and too much emphasis is put on little, trivial events leading up to the ending, such as all the signs Kelson finds proving Larkin’s belief.
Ryder, known to be a good actress, does not shine in this role. But that’s all right; it doesn’t entirely ruin her image of being one of the best in the business.
Chaplin provides a good, honest attempt at great acting, and he almost pulls it off. The audience just doesn’t know what to think of him. Should they like him, hate him, pity him? They don’t know until the end, and by that time the movie has just become an annoyance.
With trailers reminiscent of “The Exorcist,” it seems amazing that “Lost Souls” was released at the same time as the new version of William Friedkin’s horror classic. As for the question of whether “Lost Souls” holds up to “The Exorcist;” the answer is an outrageously loud no.
Despite all the bad qualities bringing down this film, which could easily and appropriately, for this alone, be called evil, this film works out some goodness.
One scene does startle a bit and another drives up suspense until the audience just can’t take it anymore. Maybe the studio executives and film producers, who include famed actress Meg Ryan, based their opinion of the film on these virtues and these virtues alone. Too bad they are weak when compared to the whole.
It seems to be a shame that Kaminski’s debut as a director, after providing great cinematography in award-winning films such as “Saving Private Ryan” and “Schindler’s List,” has to be this movie. But this one low point won’t mask his success. Hopefully, audiences won’t have to meet another lost soul for a very long time. Better yet
