The Soul Eater - Fantasia North American Premiere Review
Director: Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury
Starring: Virginie Ledoyen, Paul Hamy, Sandrinne Bonnaire, Francis Renaud
Written by: Annalyse Batrel, Ludovic Lefebvre
Produced by: Pierre Marcel Blanchot, Fambrice Lambot, Leo Maidenberg
Cinematography by: Simon Roca
Original Score by: Raphaèl Gesqua
Synopsis:
When violent and gruesome deaths starts plaguing a small mountain village, an old legend about a malevolent creature resurfaces.
Thoughts:
When I first saw that 'The Soul Eater' was directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, I was both excited and scared for what type of movie I was going to get. The director's previous works have been very divisive, from the fun inventive sea-based horror, 'The Deep House' to the downright bad 'Texas Chainsaw' prequel, 'Leatherface'. Luckily, 'The Soul Eater' is a more stripped back detective drama based in a small French town. Taking influence from shows like 'True Detective' and Netflix’s 'DARK', 'The Soul Eater' mixes the genres of crime thriller and cult-based horror, but how successful do the two directors juggle the genres? Well, it’s a real mixed bag...
Virginie Ledoyen and Paul Hamy play Elizabeth and Franck respectfully, two law enforcement officers on the case of some mysterious murders in a small French mountain village, but when a child is found at one of the crime scenes, it becomes clear that something more sinister is afoot. Hamy’s Franck is definitely the more interesting of the two, as Hamy is given more to do with his character, whereas Elizabeth is a more “by the book” officer. Ledoyen plays her character quite stiff, but it’s more of a writing issue than it is an acting issue. The character of Elizabeth doesn’t have much of a back story or doesn’t really show any under lying emotions, making the character quite dull to watch.
Hamy’s Franck has several layers to his character, including a third act reveal that gives the character extra motive. Like I’ve alluded to, the writing here isn’t the best; not terrible, but flat. There’re peaks in the movie with its depiction of violence, but the story itself isn’t anything more interesting than you’d see on your weekly episode of 'Criminal Minds'. There’re some scenes that are created to invoke some horror and dread to the story, but when you step back and think about those particular scenes, they don’t make much sense in the reality of the movie.
Despite some bad writing, the cinematography is beautiful is places. Cinematographer Simon Roca gets great use out of the scenic French mountain town, with swiping shots of the forests but Roca also creates great tension, especially in a hospital scene involving a vision of The Soul Eater themself. The editing by Baxter was also a standout for me, as I was very impressed by some of the fade transitions.
As a whole, 'The Soul Eater' isn’t going to set the crime thriller genre on fire, but the film is perfectly fine. The subpar writing holds back some great performances and truly lets the rest of the film down. If you’re looking a light mystery with some good kills, 'The Soul Eater' works perfectly fine as that. Where at times it wants to present its mystery much like 'Twin Peaks', but the end, it feels more like something straight out of 'Scooby Doo'.
Verdict: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
-Adam Neeson
'The Soul Eater' received it's North American Premiere at Fantasia '24 on July 24th
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