Rish Outfield's reviews
I saw this at a test screening in Los Angeles, and it was a truly remarkable achievement. Lost Souls manages to turn a terrifying premise into a dull, scareless stinker of a horror movie. Go ahead, call it a Thriller. Whatever you think will help. I believe this film was finished in 1998, and due to myriad problems, sat on the shelf for a looooooong time. Well, it should have kept on sitting there.
Well, the story went something like this: Ben Chaplin is part of a bizarre, frightening legacy involving the Anti-christ (though they don't exactly call him that) and the end of the world. Winona Ryder is part of the group that knows the truth. But can she stop it? And why don't we care?
Man, did this movie suck. I am usually pretty lenient on horror movies, and I always give test screenings the benefit of the doubt, but this was the only test screening I've ever given a Poor rating to, and among the worst horror movies I've seen in the theater. Winona Ryder had a dazed, almost drugged look the whole time. I know I'd have to be medicated to appear in a film as awful as this one. First-time director (but long-time cinematographer) Janusz Kaminski shows us his talents lie in framing a shot and adding an interesting look to a film, but also that he should stay far away from the narrative part of filmmaking. John Hurt appears as a priest, but his role is really only created so we can be afraid of the forces the good guys are up against.
The worst element of this film was how much they built up to the climax that never came. "The devil is a'comin', prepare yourself." But does anything ever happen? It was like hearing about a bully in school, the worst kid in town, a murderous youth with aspirations of world domination who has put dozens of kids' faces on milk cartons, and he's got a bone to pick with you. So you spend all day trying to keep from peeing your pants, looking around every corner, writing letters to the girl you'll never see again, praying to a dozen childhood gods, and then, you finally meet him . . . and he's three years younger than you, two feet tall, and bursts into tears when the lunch bell rings. Sad, really.
I'd Recommend It To: Perhaps things will be changed from the version I saw, but even if fully half of it is changed, I still wouldn't see it again. You're welcome to, though be warned, you may be bored out of your mind. Scary, huh?
Posted: July 22, 2000