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Lost Souls

Lost Souls

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Rating: 3 stars
Summary: ending the beginning
Review: For all the style and skill that went into making the film its mood is surprisingly low on impact, the problem is that it seems to lack to courage of its convictions and badly understates its punchline.

A lot has been written about the disapointing ending, and yes it is that but it is actually spot on. "The world will end not with a bang but with a wimper" perhaps it was just me but I feel the prophecy came true and the "transformation" occured, just not in the way the characters expected. Satan did take a new form and the film hints at all of this from the very beginning. The problem is that for one reason or another it couldn't just come out and say so, remember "To commit murder is to accept evil" also remember that "lost souls" are usually prevented from seeing the truths about themselves and their guidance is necessairly flawed until it is too late. Somebody mentioned that the film justifies people going out and killing in the name of their faith, I couldn't disagree more, what the films tries to do is quote Nitsche, "When you look into the abyss, be careful the abyss does not become you."

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: Satanic suspense in a classy presentation
Review: Winona Ryder and Ben Chaplin star in this underrated suspense film. The direction and cinematography are stunning -- a kind of modern film noir. Those expecting Ryder's patented doe-in-headlights look will be pleasantly intrigued to observe her as a woman with a frightful knack for satanic visions.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: One star only because there's no turkey category here...
Review: I wasn't expecting much after reading the reviews here but even the worst reviews didn't prepare me for the extremely bad ending! Many reviewers promised the movie had atmosphere & style,and I guess it did have some of that, but what a disappointment! At best, the ending was anticlimax; at worst, an invitation to religious nuts to justify horrific acts. If I could "unwatch" this movie, I would.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Surprising indeed..
Review: I felt this movie was miles above other movies like End of Days and Stigmata.. infact, a breath of fresh air! I rented this once on a whim sometime last year and it has stuck with me even after watching the other so called " apocolyptic" fare that was released in 1999. Over a space of 8 months or so every so often a scene from the movie would pop into my head (Such as the time Wyona whispers into Ben's ear that he was to be the king of all suffering on the earth". Recently i bougth the dvd, and i haven't been disappointed. Don't listen to the naysayers! Watch the movie before you judge.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Huh?
Review: I was very confused while watching the beginning of Lost Souls. I hate it when I have to ask the people I am watching a movie with to explain what is going on. I found myself wanting to turn off Lost Souls after the first 15 minutes but decided to hang in.

The middle of the movie cleared things up for me, and I actually became intrigued for a short time. Winona Ryder was good, but not good enough to hold up this hokey film.

The ending just made me realize I had wasted my time with this movie. I had more fun observing my parrot playing with his new toy and often had to rewind due to missing dialog. Thankfully enough, I got it for free from my old job.

I am not going to write about the plot, as you can read the other reviews to learn about Lost Souls. Just wanted to give my overall thoughts about it. I give it two stars because the acting was OK and the Mai Tai's we drank while watching it were strong. Aw yeah.

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Scary, but somewhat confusing and bizzare...
Review: "Lost Souls" was the movie that I had anticipated the most, though did not live up to my expectations. Though it was scary and interesting, the movie was confusing from the start and took almost half way through to figure it out. The filming was very well done, and so was the plot, but if only it had been more explanitory. And another thing was that some scenes were just plain stupid, and could have been done better. The only thing that keeps this movie from a one star, is its suspenseful scenes, and its story. Otherwise, you've got yourself a twisted movie with hard to hear dialogue, a confusing start off, and a ending that makes you say "What? That was it?"

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Lost Souls??? More like Wasted Rental
Review: Well, the movie was not at all scary. The plot was subpar at best. Nothing about this movie was worth the cost of the rental. I like Winona Ryder as an actress, but she could not save this movie for me. The story really goes no where. You are left at the end wondering what in the world have I missed. I cannot fathom that a movie actually was worse than The Ninth Gate, but this one makes Ninth Gate look like a the Scarface of horror movies.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: Confusing begining.. good middle.. bad ending
Review: This movie begins with Winona Ryder and another guy going to a crazy house to preform an exorcism on some guy. He gives them a code to another mans name who is going to be reborn as the antichrist on his birthday, which is a couple days away. Winona has visions... I don't know if she was supposed to be crazy in the movie or just able to see the future. I know she was once possessed in her past, on the movie. Anyway she finds the man who is being rebord as the antichrist, and tries to help him.. they end up acting like they love eachother, but have no chemistry. Then they end up sitting in a car and waiting for the exact minute of his birth to see if he has changed into the antichrist. Winona holds a gun on him.. when he doesn't change, she sets it down. Then all of a sudden he changes.. and she shoots him twice, and he dies and that's it.. I think the ending was really stupid.. because if he changed.. how can you kill the antichrist by shooting him twice? Wouldn't you need something spiritual to kill him? So I think that was the movies only REAL fault.. it was missing a battle at the end. If it had that.. it may have been alot better off.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: P.U. !!!
Review: My girlfriend & I wanted to enjoy a scary movie together. But we were duped when we watched LOST SOULS. I became bored out of my skull and she was more scared of the rain & thunder outside. As many have already stated, this movie tries to put itself into the "Exorcist" genre of horror - however it will do more for insomniacs than for horror fans. It's just plain bad!! It tries to be artsy with droll colours, intrinsic camera angles and cinematic twists - however the outcome is a boring and depressing movie (and I personally never liked a film that tries to be DARK by using so-called creative lighting & lack of bright colours - a la BATMAN). It's such a sin since I've always enjoyed the acting of Wionna Ryder. But in this film you care nothing about her character or anyone else in the film. Avoid this film at all costs!!!!

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Style but no real substance
Review: 'Lost Souls' makes an effort to be a film that ranks up there with 'The Exorcist' but it doesn't quite succeed. I agree with the majority of the reviews posted here regarding the spectacular cinematography. The director manages to create an dark atmosphere that literally screams suspense. However, this does not compensate for the weak, unoriginal storyline and sub-par performances by some of the actors. Wynonna Ryder's performance in particular, is flat and downright unbelievable. She fails to inject any real emotion or drama in her performance whatsoever, which seriously damages the film. We don't view her as the unlikely hero, the saviour of mankind, just as an annoyance whose whole approach is 'ho hum, been there, done that'. Ben Chaplin is equally middle-of-the-road in his performance, although I think he did what he could with what he was given. They tried to focus on creating a sympathetic and likable character, but he and Ryder have NO on-screen chemistry, which certainly didn't help. You end up waiting for some big thing that never happens (well, until the end). John Hurt manages to steal most of the scenes that he is in...and even manages to out-act Ryder when he is supposed to be in a coma (what does THAT tell you).

It was a extremely good move to keep the so-called exorcisms reduced to distorted, half-seen segments, filled with screams of agony and terror. This forced the viewer to rely on their imagination, as it is the unseen, the unknown, is usually what provokes the most fear. For example, take the first 'Alien' 'Halloween', 'Psycho', or 'Nightmare on Elm Street' for example. You never really got a good look at that alien, Michael Meyers, Norman's Mother or Freddy Kruger in the original version of any of these films. That's what made it so damn scary as our childhood fear of the dark or the boogeyman, were justified time and again. This was one of the few redeeming qualities of the film because when film-makers rely on in-your-face tactics, it usually ends up just being unrealistic and cheesy special effects. However,this film tends to take itself too seriously in its efforts to make it a new twist on an old story, and frankly, it just doesn't cut it. It relies on the same old religious references and 'evil' icons. The cinematography and the surprise ending are really the only thing that make this film worth watching. Rent it first, you'd have to be a pretty serious fan of this genre or Ryder or whoever to find it worthy of a purchase.


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