I rarely write in the first person but since is my first negative review, I felt the time had come.
The Soul Catcher synopsis read like an occultist's dream! God, the devil, possession, magical powers, the number 666, churches burning, torture, violence, gore, demons...let's face it...there just aren't enough decent film productions with this thematic content, and the ones that exist are tame when when it comes to boundaries. I was hoping for a gorefest of devilish proportion! But...then I hit play.
The acting was not the worst I've seen, but everything else was. The instant the movie started, a cheesy computer generated text appeared on-screen and I knew it was going to be bad. Now, some bad is good, but this bad was bad. Some bad is meant to be bad which makes it good, but this bad was meant to be good which made it bad.
- The camerawork is done on what is essentially a digital camcorder with filters applied, to make the film appear almost dream-like or textured. As in...MUCH OF THE FILM! Ugh.
- The fx are done in post, and boy are they terrible. With the already-poor camera quality, the addition of said "special effects" is only made worse by their inexplicably poor quality. Shaky scenes that last forever, terrible lighting filters that have no redeeming value, and edits in nearly any & every scene calling for an effect make this painful to watch.
- Speaking of no redeeming value, while I have seen films with worse acting, many of the actors likely have no experience beyond their grade school productions of 'Annie.' The two leads do "OH-KAY," but for the most part the acting is entirely unconvincing, dramatically overdone, and embryonically inept. In those "bad movies that are intentionally bad which makes them good," these are (or can be) qualities which lend to the overall positive schlock value of a production. But in this "bad movie that tries to be good, which makes it really bad," these qualities illustrate nothing more than how inept every person working on the production is, especially since it was made to be a serious flick.
-You want demonic evil & sin, but only get mnemonic
upheaval and spin. Botched biblical phrases, catty references to medieval literature, and clichéd allegory run rampant.
I'm nearly 50, and there are very few movies I find ZERO value in. This is very close to that; the only reason I rated this 2 stars is that the two lead roles at least attempt convincing the viewer that they've had acting experience. AND, I like the story line. Beyond that, there are many better (and worse) films to pass the time watching.
NOT for fans looking for violence or gore. There are no redeeming examples of either.
Would someone PLEASE make a decent film using these themes?
Thank you and goodnight.
