Dead Souls

Johnny Petrie (Jesse James) inherits a farm from his estranged birth family. He intends to sell the place and finds a squatter named Emma (Magda Apanowicz). Mary Petrie (Geraldine Hughes) is a disturbed patient.

The filmmaking is somewhat clunky with a few interesting horror scenes. The story is a muddle when it should be a simple telling. The premise is messy. When it gets to the reveal, it suddenly adds a bunch of stuff coming out of left field. On the other hand, the actors are fine. I've always like Apanowicz. I like Moseley. Even the bad actors are not that bad. The failure is mostly in the filmmaking.

This movie would've been much better if the plot was more cohesive. Towards the end, I was really feeling like they lost it and was just hastily wrapping things up. The production quality was promising, so it was a bummer that it failed to keep the story tight.

The makers of this film asked way too much of its two young leads, who aren't the most amazing actors and are required to carry nearly the entire movie with just them in an old house. Not only that but the dialogue just isn't there, so no matter what their level of talent they don't have much to work with either.

Then there is the direction, there is something very messy about most of the shots, and this usually does not seem to add anything to the theme of the film and just makes things feel confused. Also if this all wasn't enough there are also clear budget restraints that would hurt the film even if it did have decent actors, pacing, writing or editing.

There is some slivers of possibly good movie here, but it is hard to really piece them together and not really worth the effort.

I can't blame this movie for much. It is a typical horror movie for this age, where the script is a random mix of other films of the genre, the horror is done via camera angle tricks, the bloody scenes or the nudity are removed and most of the movie is people not understanding what is going on or running around like headless chickens when they do. But I've seen so many films like this that it doesn't bother me anymore. It's not scary either, though.

I loved the Osiris and Jesus angle and, while the rest of the story made no sense, the idea that modern gods are just knockoffs of the old ones seemed really funny. They could have done something with this other than a bunch of homicidal hillbillies looking for eternal life. I am sure they didn't intend it to be funny, but it was for me.

Bottom line: This film is so incredibly average that it becomes mere background noise. There were a few ideas in it that could have made an impact, but I am sure none of the creators of the film actually cared. The highlight of the movie has to be Magda Apanowicz, who is cute as hell, even if her character is a complete mess.

Upon his 18th birthday, a young man receives a mysterious phone call telling him to come out to a property he just inherited. Now, he will learn about his true past and the dark secrets of his family.

I would first like to point out that director Colin Theys is under 30, and has already accumulated a decent amount of credits. Now, they may not be big projects and he may not be the next big thing in horror. However, "Dead Souls" was better than average and I think we might be seeing Theys moving up in the world very soon.

The film as a whole has a creepy atmosphere and preys on the connection between God, faith and how far we will go for what we believe in. Other stories have told this tale with varying degrees of success. Here, I think we have a new angle -- the protagonist, despite being born into such a home, is completely unaware of it and experiencing everything for the first time. He is an outsider as much as an insider.

Not all of the acting is great, and some of the characters are a bit random and show up without reason. Even Emma seems to be thrown in there for nothing more than a romantic interest. I do have to single out Bill Moseley as doing an excellent job. He gets roles in many bad films and gives performances to match. Here, I think he gives it his all.