Soulkeeper

SOULKEEPER is about a pair of hapless thieves who accept a job from a Mr. Pascal (Brad Dourif), to steal a stone with magical properties.

It all sort of plays out like a mediocre episode of the old TALES FROM THE CRYPT from the early 1990's, full of blood, boobs, and the occasional laugh. The horror is humorous, and the humor is horrible. It seems pretty halfhearted as well.

MONSTER ALERT: If you're a monster fanatic and you want to see this movie because of the demon in the picture, then you'll want to know that it has about 4 seconds of screen time...

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!

I really wanted to like this film. The acting was above average. The photography and effects were nicely done. the only problem was...and it's a big one....the story was just plain dumb. It's a shame too because the actors worked hard to save this turkey, if only they had a better plot to work with. The overall story was not on par with the dialog. Some of the scenes were actually very funny. Others were just not. The little 12 year old kid in the bordello like place was really bad, certainly not funny. He must have been related to someone cause he sure couldn't act. Luckily he was only on screen for a short time.

The two male leads were pretty darn good, both had a nice comic flare. Made me wish they were in a better movie.

Would I recommend this film? Not when there are so many better ones out there.

I believe, after watching this, not only in 'the power of the human soul,' but in the capacity for man to inflict evil upon fellow man. 'Soulkeeper,' and let's not kid ourselves here, isn't great. I would say that it fits in more with the 'cringe-worthily unfortunate' category. It aims to be a comedy-action-horror and really isn't very good at any of them. The comedy routine that runs throughout the film is a collection of one-liners that mostly don't fire. Mostly they tend to be funny in spite of themselves rather than because they actually are. The horror had potential (despite the ludicrous monster on the cover of the box) but is wounded by a serious failure on the part of the film-writers to establish any tension or threat that the two heroes might be in danger (well, at least until the climactic battle scene at the end). 'Soulkeeper' was like watching a long episode of Scooby-doo without any of the charm. Yeah there is a monster, but do you really think the two clowning knuckleheads in this buddy film gone wrong are in serious trouble? If one of the two leads had broken out the scooby snacks when the going got tough (wait, it never got tough ... except for me) we would have been alright.

To be fair it has its moments. The "comedy" is grating because it tries too hard but there are times when you can't tell if it is being unintentionally funny or if there is great wit and a satirical mindset at work. Watching with friends was the only right decision I made about this movie because at least we could operate like a support group for trauma survivors. My favorite observation came when the two protagonists were in a cemetery and trapped in a night terror of sorts. The Robert Davi character snaps them out of it by hitting them with not one, but two buckets of water. My friend, bless him, wondered where he got the first, let alone second bucket of water? Genius or madness?!? YOU decide! hah hah hah!! ...late for therapy...

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!