Soulkeeper

(2001) Soulkeeper COMEDY HORROR

Although, the actual VHS case has a cool 3D cover on it, it's still a mediocre effort which is reminiscent of "Highway to Hell" made in 1991 because of it's laid back approach on the horror genre. Straight-to-rental but contains some familiar scenes to other films like "The Mummy" movies with Brendon Fraser and "From Dusk Til' Dawn". Written and directed by Darin Ferriola starring Rodney Rowland as Corey and Kevin Patrick Walls as Terrence, lightweight and sometimes clumsy thieves who're working together. They've just stolen a hat from some small museum that was supposed to be worn by Abe Lincoln and made some money out of it. They're then somehow get hired by a person who calls himself Mr. Pascal played by Brad Dourif, you know the guy who played Grima Wormtongue, the greasy snake guy from "The Lord Of The Ring" movies. Anyways, Mr. Pascal hires them to confiscate and steal some emblems as well as performing other tasks with reasons unbeknownst to viewers but has something to do with the reincarnation of a demon which has killed some ritualistic believers in the first few minutes, and also has the ability to possess other peoples human forms. Labelled as a light weight horror extravaganza which I think I only chuckled at least once throughout my entire experience since much of it is meandering. It has something do with the two stars entering what looked like the devil's brothel, unaware that the girls are really demons. I think the uncut TV version is slightly different than the VHS version for I'm not really sure since it was awhile ago since I had seen this.

For a low brow, low budget horror film this one is actually better than usual. Some of the jokes are actually amusing, the performers are lively and the special effects are actually quite good. Not all the bits are successful - but how can you go wrong with Karen Black as a fortune teller/psychic/manicurist who projectile vomits all over co-star Rowland while levitating during a 'seance'. The cast is rounded out by Robert Davi, Brad Dourif, Tiny Lister and Deborah Gibson appearing ever-so-briefly as herself!

This is a very entertaining film which I only discovered through the now essenjtial combination of eBay and the IMDB.

The two leads, who remind me of a young John Ritter and a young Patrick Swayze, are likeable. They master that difficult trick of showing spiritual development whilst being funny. Their confessions are delightful: "I once owned a copy of Judas Priest's Unleashed in the East".

There'a great cast of support players including Brad Dourif, Robert Davi and Karen Black.

The direction is very smart, with plenty of good tricks. I liked the snaring of the heroes in their first assault on Simon Magus's mansion.

Simon Magus! That's a nice piece of Christian lore to firm up the story's background.

The plotting is neat with some of the less understandable interludes made clear at the film's resolution which had a surprisingly wistful quality.

I rented this movie cause I heard it wasn't bad and I gotta tell ya, it wasn't bad... it was surprisingly good! Alright, so it is kinda low budget (although the special effects looked on par with most studio flicks) but the acting, direction, suspense, monsters were convincing and intriguing enough to keep me more entertained than most stuff in theaters. It's a silly movie, but if you like throwback flicks that combine horror and comedy (like Fright Night and Evil Dead) this is right up your alley.

This movie is an amusing homage to the 80's action-horror. It has a risible plot, poor special effects (The monsters are bad actors in ridiculous masks)and some decidely bad scripting..However it was a really fun experience, It made me feel like a kid again. It was an eighties film with better clothes! The two main characters worked well together, and had a good buddy-chemistry thing, some truly funny scenes (There's a scene where a demon turns into his mother during a sex act that's particulary good) Overall I'd say that if you want a good wry chuckle and a burst of nostaglia for those truly cheesy movies of the eighties watch it!