Mary Loss of Soul

Quite possibly the... Worst. Acting. Ever. I watched it because Jose Zuniga and Nick Mancuso are both talented. The other members of the cast are like high school drama club. Huh, I still watched the whole thing 😣

Mary Kaylee Bryant goes missing at her family's lake house. When she returns, the 15 year old has been relieved of much of her soul. To mark the difference between the depressed Mary and the earlier, perkier model, we are treated, in flashback, to moments of family life that are so coated in sugar, things threaten to become hyperglycaemic.

Mum has the lion's share of exposition and turns into a wise-crackin' ass kicker at the end, dad keeps telling the police they either 'need to send some people round', and when they arrive, that they 'need to leave.'

My favourite character is May's younger sister Sophia, largely because of Anne Bex's unaffected performance.

A horror for youngsters or possibly teenage girls is no bad thing. I certainly wouldn't be arrogant enough to decry this film for not catering for a beleaguered old horror git like myself. Roles are played broadly, which was probably deemed necessary to convey large amounts of often heavy-handed dialogue. If this was intended for youngsters, then I honestly think they would find the vast amount of the running time rather dull. My score is 5 out of 10.

OK, the initial premise of the story is good. After that it falls apart. Catherine Black is supposed to be a mother to a 16 year old? Sorry she can't act her way out of a paper bag. Over blown performance. Same can be said for just about all the other actors as well, poor acting, or over the top stereotypical wooden acting. The only decent acting was from Emma Gruttadauria, who didn't do a bad job, given the poor story line and scripting.

I'm sorry, this should have been a good film, but it floundered badly in my opinion. I had a hard time staying awake, and I'll watch just about anything.

I'd make a joke about how this movie lacks any kind of soul, but that would give this movie too much credit. The movie is full of exposition, horrible acting, and some of the worst writing I have seen outside of the Lifetime network. The script is often laughable, but the film is so exhausting and anticlimactic that you would likely get more enjoyment out of reading the synopsis than actually watching it. Essentially, the title explains it all; a girl named Mary loses her soul mysteriously and slowly begins to turn white and pasty, losing interest in life as apparitions begin to appear to her and her family. They eventually decide to hire a medium (shaman) to get her soul back. Next to nothing in the story makes sense and feels cheap and easy. The actor who plays the father is a halfway decent actor but the rest of the cast is downright awful. I think it's amazing that someone was given the funding for this film after looking at the script, and even more so that it made it out of production at all. Do yourself a favor and skip this one.

This movie fails to know what it is. The story idea is interesting, but the execution is poor. It's easy to blame the acting because there is no clear point of view, so we can't relate to anyone. The actors all do a great job despite these odds against them. The actress playing the mother, Catherine Black, is given the challenge of carrying the bulk of the dialogue and delivering all the information, yet the movie isn't about her, so it's confusing why she does all the talking. Her dialogue is over explanatory and corny, yet she does an incredible job delivering it and making it feel natural. Despite having all the dialogue, the movie isn't told through the mothers point of view, so it falls short. Everything is explained and not shown, which makes the actors look bad, and the story unbelievable. The movie should have been about a mother fearing the loss of her child's soul, but it's not. Mary Loss of Soul doesn't know what it wants to be, a horror movie for kids, a supernatural thriller, or a drama...it's never clear. A lot is missing from the story, and the POV jumps around, so it's impossible to relate to any character or to the circumstances. Everyone does a good job, the cinematography is good, the actors all good, but unfortunately the script and direction have many holes. It feels like something is missing. However, children might really enjoy this movie.