Sean Parker
Injecting supernatural elements into investigative thrillers is becoming increasingly mainstream these days. The incredible popularity of True Detective over the last decade has proved that a little cosmic mystery goes a very long way with investigative thriller fans looking to unravel an act so heinous it could hardly be grounded in reality. Enter The Soul Eater, directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury’s (Inside, Livid, The Deep House) latest horror story, about a small French logging town’s folktale that may be the key to deciphering a string of unsolved missing children’s cases.
Commander Elizabeth Guardiano (Virginie Ledoyen) is sent to aid the local police in a town on the verge of collapse when a bizarre murder leaves the understaffed unit baffled. While traveling, she meets Captain of the Gendarmerie Franck De Rolan (Paul Hamy), heading to the same crime scene on a lead that a missing child, in this case, may be related to a slew of others in neighboring towns. Though their investigations are separate, their cases may be the same, resulting in Elizabeth’s tolerance for Franck while looking at the crime scene. What even is a procedural investigation thriller without two detectives squabbling about whose case it is?
The initial shock of the brutality displayed in the crime scene will undoubtedly pique the viewer’s interest. But when the child is found in the basement telling the detectives that The Soul Eater killed his parents, the audience is fully sold on completing Bustillo and Maury’s wild ride.
The Soul Eater is the local version of the Boogeyman, a folk tale meant to keep children from getting lost in the woods. The Soul Eater will return the incomplete, soulless husk of any person venturing into the woods to find it. Then, having no moral compass, the soulless are led to commit vile and unconscionable acts. As the body count begins to rise and the crime scenes become more distressing, Elizabeth and Franck begin to see the connections in their investigations, but can they stop whatever is behind this before more bodies drop and more children go missing?
Ledoyen, Hamy, and Sandrine Bonnaire give absolutely incredible performances in the film. You’re palpably fixated on these three actors as they interact with each other, drawing you in with their backstories and secrets. The Soul Eater’s austere tone and visualizations help draw in the horror crowd, who are there to see the transfixing pieces of supernaturalism inserted into the movie. Bustillo and Maury do a fantastic job of providing The Soul Eater with the compelling elements necessary to keep viewers’ eyes glued to screens, or at least for a time. They manage to tell a rather focused tale full of captivating imagery and beautiful scenery, and, to that end, The Soul Eater couldn’t be more vivacious. To see the creature walking with Evan (Cameron Bain), who perceives The Soul Eater differently than most, is a delectable quality of a scared, innocent imagination that gives the film an air of fantasy appeal.
Based on Alexis Laipsker’s novel, “Le Mangeur d’Ames,” The Soul Eater, as a film, lacks much of the nuance necessary to pack a punch. While setting up callbacks, the audience is given the cheat codes, so to speak, and presented with information that any moviegoer would add to an internal checklist. With informed logic, they get ahead of many elements the film’s investigation attempts to set up. A lingering camera on a billboard and some casual comments provide the most obvious build-up I’ve ever seen. It couldn’t be any more glitteringly apparent unless they put a bunch of red arrows around it.
Meanwhile, repeated talks about a nearby plane crash seem worth considering, given that these events are happening simultaneously. I get that the detectives are logically following the evidence in True Detective style, but it comes across as ignorance, given the stakes. The audience knows where The Soul Eater is going and is only surprised it took so long to get there. Even when the movie attempts to throw the audience off, the means the story takes to set the angle into motion comes across as a red herring.
The Soul Eater winds up just over the middle of the road. The bewitching manner of the film will provide fans of procedural thrillers potent reminders of Insomnia, The Snowman, The X-Files: I Want to Believe, Thunderbird, and Smilla’s Sense of Snow. There’s plenty of wonderment in The Soul Eater’s elements to attract an audience, and it provides a satisfying ending if you decide to give it a try. But keeping the tension in the atmosphere becomes a bit of a struggle as the story’s investigation is usurped by underdeveloped setups for callbacks. The production values are high, and the performances are worth taking a look at, but keen audiences won’t be surprised when the time comes.
The Soul Eater starts streaming on PVOD on Tuesday, December 10.
THE SOUL EATER Official Trailer (2024) Horror, Thriller Movie HD
When violent and gruesome deaths starts plaguing a small mountain village, an old legend about a malevolent creature resurfaces. THE SOUL EATER Official Trailer (2024) Horror, Thriller Movie HD Subscribe to Rapid Trailer For All The Latest Movie Trailers!
