Rating: 
Summary: A Disappointment to PoSeSs
Review: This movie was a letdown. The plot/story was interesting but it
doesn't deliver. It's predictable in some spots (the ending most
shamelessly, it ...). Winona Ryder plays an experienced exorcisor when her and her allies (John Hurt,some other guy) confront this man (John Diehl) who keeps penciling numbers down
on paper, (he's locked up in the looney bin and he;s requested
to be exorcised.
What happens next is a letdown, you don't even get to see what's
happening,just the aftermath.
I can't think or remember for that matter any good scenes in this
flick...oh when Ryder is in the "head" and she sees XES and the toilets overflow..thats about it.
Rent it first I didn't like this clunker at all
Rating:
Summary: Great photography lost on soulless script
Review: Lost Souls sat on the shelf for over a year while New Line Cinema decided what to do with it. There can be several reason why a distributor does this. The most common reason it that a movie is a disaster, so lousy that its owners hesitate to throw good money after bad. The next most frequent case is one in which the distributor has a movie which might be good but which it feels it cannot sell to the mass market. I suspect that with Lost Souls, which is not a great movie to begin with, it's a matter of its not having what today's audiences expect. As both a horror film and a thriller, it is a disappointment.Maya Larkin [Wynona Ryder] teaches French in a Catholic grade school. Years earlier she was possessed by demons and was saved by priests who performed an exorcism rite. Now, in addition to teaching, she aids the fathers in helping people who are similarly stricken. She accompanies them to a mental institution where they deal with a serial killer. The exorcism is a difficult one, and her mentor, Father Leraux [John Hurt], is nearly killed during it. Across town, a successful author, Peter Kelson [Ben Chaplin], is finishing up his latest book, which debunks the belief that good and evil are actually real. In notes taken from the serial killer, Maya discovers that the antichrist will soon appear in the body of a man who fits certain criteria. Further research makes her think that man is Kelson, who naturally is angered and perplexed when Maya approaches him with her findings. Then the real fun begins. I think that director Janusz Kaminski must have decided to take this done-a-thousand-times plot and overcome its lack or originality by making the movie stylish and moody. In his distinguished career as a cinemaphotographer, Kaminski has won Academy awards for his work on Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. Making Lost Souls a visual feast was no problem for him, but like some people, behind the beautiful facade, there isn't much there. Still, I did enjoy seeing a movie that uses a color palette different from the one used in most movies. What is puzzling is why he chose to make his directorial debut with this project. Wynona Ryder is both more beautiful and paler than ever here. She makes Maya as believable as it is possible to do. The Englishman Ben Chaplin, though also nice to look at, is not as successful, seeming to concentrate too much on getting his American accent just right. Lost Souls, like scores of movies before it. presents the Catholic church as one filled with crazy people and Satan as something so incompetent that it cannot deal with one single mortal, even if in this case the mortal is Ms. Ryder. The ending, which I liked because it was different, is likely to disappoint most viewers.
Rating:
Summary: The plot got lost on the cutting room floor.
Review: Lost Souls (Janusz Kaminski, 2000) Is it any wonder Winona Ryder has been reduced to stealing from boutiques on Rodeo Drive? She progressed immediately from work on the howler Girl, Interrupted straight into this similarly awful shocker. The difference between the two is that Lost Souls, at least, seems as if it might have been a decent film at one point in its miserable existence; the former piece of work was unsaveable in any way, shape, or form. If there WAS a good film to be found in Lost Souls, it was left on the cutting room floor. What's left is a jumble of cutscenes likely to give even the most astute viewer vertigo. The plot has all but disappeared, but seems to involve a few exorcisms and a true crime writer (rising star Ben Chaplin) who a number of renegade priests believe is the second coming of the antichrist. Kaminski made his name as one of Spielberg's top cinematographers, and so it's to be expected that the film will at least look good, and in that it succeeds quite nicely. What little appeal the film has comes from its visuals, which use the same basic dark-on-black motif Kaminski used in his cinematographer days on such visually effective Spielberg
outings as Schindler's List and Saving Private Ryan. Problem is, the visuals aren't enough to carry the film. There are too many plot holes for a Hollywood veteran, which leads me to the conclusino that at one point this film was much longer and actually had coherence; otherwise, it wouldn't have drawn such starpower as it's got (along with Ryder and Chaplin, the film also boasts Elias Koteas, Alfre Woodard, John Hurt, and a few other easily recognizable folks). As it is, though, stay far, far away. **
Rating: 
Summary: Wants to be a thinking man's Exorcist, but just bores
Review: A film that wants to be the thinking man's "Exorcist" but only succeeeds at being boring. Usually when you see the term "thinking man's..." before a film title, it means that what they're describing rips off the film they're talking about, while managing to be boring as well. When you're talking about "The Exorcist", it's not much of a stretch to make it boring, since the original is pretty slow anyway ("Exorcist III", by contrast, is a perfect film, bar none) and is a true, bona fide thinking man's film already. "Lost Souls" is just, well, boring. The story concerns a woman who seeks out a guy who doesn't know that he's going to be the anti-Christ by Sept. 14 (I made the date up for effect), so she has to get to him and stop him from, I don't know, going evil, I guess.
With the interestingly good cast involved, I expected a lot from this film, but I guess every actor's rent went up in L.A., so here we are. Not only is this one of the worst paced films Ive ever seen (they literally could have crunched the speaking and "action" parts into 30 minutes), but the effects (I hesitate to suggest that they are anywhere near "special") are totally bogus. Not wack - that would imply that you could see wires or notice obvious blue-screening - but they're practically non-existent and misleading when they do exist, and are thus "bogus". Shaking cameras (from the Jim Kirk Star Trek school of photography), loud noises and warm-colored strobe lights equals exorcism, I guess, or an average night at your average hole-in-the-wall nightclub. The ending is also highly suspect and screeches to a totally non-effectual halt in the "action" (there simply MUST be another word for this when there is no actual action taking place), and really makes me wish I'd never seen it, even if I was fast-forwarding through massive chunks of non-speaking scenery. These people walk through more hallways and streets than marathon runners.
Rating: 
Summary: One Word, One Name....PHILLIP BAKER HALL....
Review: Phillip Baker (...) Hall -- the whole reason I saw this movie. And he's great in it, fabulous - wonderful as he usually is. Folks he is a great great great actor, you should go see Hard Eight (or any other of PT Anderson's Films) and Secret Honor (Robert Altman) for some great Phillip moments. Anyway loved the look of the film, story was nice...I'm not to sure on the execution though. The ending, as is usual with an anti-christ film these days is predictable, but I liked the way it was carried out. Check it out, its not a waste of time...Gorgeous Gorgeous cinematography from Kaminski. Give this guy a good story and he will do wonders in the future. Someone to watch for. If you like Stigmata, you may like this, but as with all art, all opinons are subjective...so don't take my word for it.
Rating: 
Summary: Good but...... I don't know.....
Review: Good Movie...... but I don't know. The story line was great but it just seemed like...... the movie had its intense parts but they should have built more off of them. There was alot of talk and it had a great story line but they should have included more shocking scenes..... although it did have its share. So if you are looking for a good scary movie with not that much scary viewable content but more of a scary storyline then get this movie. You won't regret it. I just like more gore :-P
Rating:
Summary: Lost Souls
Review: I like the cast of the movie and the premise of the storyline,however I donnot think the ending justified the plot.If you are looking for scares and fireworks from this one , you will be disappointed.But it is still an enjoyable watch.Lisa C.
Rating:
Summary: Winona, you need to choose better scripts
Review: Okay. I love Winona Ryder as an actress. I remember her in Heathers and Beetlejuice and basically grew up with her. My God, her choice of movies nowadays is going down the tubes. She seems to have a fascination with "the strange and unusual" (taken from Beetlejuice), including her choice of movies. As for Lost Souls, I was expecting something very dark and terrifying. Boy, was I disappointed. I was not afraid at all. There were times where I almost fell asleep. The cinematography was good, the acting was decent, but the story was lame. It simply lacked creativity and that sense of terror that every good horror flick should have. The ending was disappointing. Granted it left much to the imagination but it also left enough open to create a sequal.....if the movie producers would be foolish enough to do.
Rating:
Summary: A WASTE OF FILM!
Review: I rented this movie thinking it would be good, it was horrible. the movie makes this huge build up and there isn't one, I don't recommend it, you'd be wasting your money, if I could get back the two hours of my life from watching this that would be great!
Rating:
Summary: Great Concept/ Bad Story
Review: The concept of the movie was good but, it was written and acted out terribly. The possiblities were endless on what different angle's they could have went with this story, and it's too bad that the one they chose was awful. This movie most certainly wasn't scary at all, and it had some parts were it got a little boring. I also found the ending to be a let down in fact, it was kind of weak. I thought that I was going to get to see her participate in exercising the demon from the guy but, I didn't even get to see him get possessed. Winona Ryder is a phenomenl actress but, this movie was a disgrace to her talent.
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