8

This is kind of a hard one to write about. If it were just the story alone and it had not been so well technically put together, I probably wouldn't have even bothered to write a review about it.

The story itself is basically pretty simple. You definitely will need subtitles for the non-English parts so you will be able to understand what the indigenous people are saying and dealing with, not to mention some important dialog between Lazarus and his, uh... companion. If you do not have subtitles, then you will not be able to follow the story very well, unless of course you happen to speak the South African language that is being spoken : )

I think one of the reviews that I read on one of the sites I normally check for films like this stated that he felt that this film had one of the best openings he had ever seen. I would agree. But, I don't feel it ever really reaches that level of intensity from that point on. And, FWIW, the cinematography, lighting, and editing are are done extremely well. The scenic shots are lovely. This is a VERY beautiful looking movie. BUT... in my lowly and wretched opinion I feel that although crafted really, really well, and the acting by the primary Lazarus was outstanding (the girl, not so much...) ultimately, to me the story was not really quite substantial enough or fully satisfying to fill it out completely. It was okay and certainly not terrible, and like I've mentioned, technically executed really well. I just don't think that it really packed the 'punch' that it could have. It kind of went in a more Metaphysical, ethereal direction as opposed to cranking up the intensity, which with this kind of Horror film I think would have worked better. The very, very ending though, not mentioning anything specific of course, but the ending at the very last moment is a little bit of a Gobsmack, but I didn't really quite understand it. As a matter of fact, I was just now kind of scouring the Internet to see if I could find some opinions or explanations about what it meant : )

Anyway, honestly not a film that I would get hugely excited about, I gave it a '6' which for me is just about at the borderline of maybe being worth a look. But, I really DID think it was a very beautiful movie and it was constructed very well, so I thought that it was at least worth a mention here...

I would say that if you truly don't mind extremely slow and fairly simply plotted films and you appreciate beautiful photography and some light but decent atmosphere AND you are not expecting a lot, then you might find this one mildly enjoyable.

The story writing and the acting was good. We are used to the western kind of horror stories and it overshadows our own African Stories. This has a great sense of originality as these are some of the scary stories you hear in Africa. This opens up a whole lot of possibilities for how those stories can be enacted into movies. Great for African audiences as they can relate. Slow but mature movie, resonates better with adults.

This film by Harold Holcher explores the supernatural world via a story of a family encounter with a man with a curse. It does this with a good performance by Tshamano Sebe playing the character of "Larazus". Although this film has a good story with beautiful landscape shots, the delivery of the supernatural was not as strong.

A common theme throughout the narrative are references to the natural world: moths, worms, etc. Again the story have some interesting metaphor with insects and the afterlife, Sebe's performance holds the film together. His performance alone, deserves a looksie into this film, hopefully he will reappear in another supernatural film.

That being said this film.with the idea of South African "Fantastic" and "genre" cinema, this still a film to see. The growth of these films are growing in South Africa, like couple of years with 2017's "Lullably" by Darell Roodt.

This is one of the better horror films released this year.

It will appeal more to adults who enjoy an engaging and well produced movie rather than the trashy shock-horror kind of teen film that saturate the horror genre at the moment.

The acting is superb with well-rounded and believable characters.

Well worth seeing.

Just as a warning, this film is very slow going and is a lot more psychological than visual, so if you're hoping or expecting a film with lots of creepy moments and/or jump scares then this will disappoint.

The Soul Collector is a lot more of a drama than anything. Some horror and suspense moments, but definitely more on the drama side. Not that that's a bad thing, but the trailer misleads you which is disappointing. However, putting that aside, it's not too bad of a film if you can handle much slower paced movies.

Set in South Africa, this tells the story of a family who recently move into a new house and befriend an old man (Lazarus) who is on a path of spiritual self healing after committing an act that causes him to lose his only daughter. A film you need to pay attention to to actually get what is going on but can be pretty tricky because of the slow pace. It's easy to become bored and disinterested unless you can get into it.

Lazarus is played really well by Tshamano Sebe who, while technically playing "the bad guy", makes you feel sympathetic towards him and does a good job of bringing you onto his side even though you know you should really be against him and what he's doing. The rest of the cast do a decent enough job with what they have but the standout is definitely Sebe.

All in all, The Soul Collector isn't too bad of a watch and it may be a decent break away from the seemingly endless superhero films that is being trudged out right now. Just be prepared for the slow pace.