Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

FeistyUpper If you don't like this, we can't be friends.

Platicsco Good story, Not enough for a whole film

Fleur Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

Peter Pluymers A movie that comes in my list of a mediocre but "not quite good" horror movie. Things started very promising. The apostate priest who, cause of a strange reason, kills his whole family. His wife and two older children are killed in an explicit way. Of course one member of the family remains unharmed. The newborn Brian was hidden by his older brother in a drawer. Thus the ritual can not be accomplished and the priest nails his family on a cross and eventually commits suicide. What the actual ritual is, is not really clear in this film. A bit of a weird idea of the priest to connect Christianity to a primitive religion of Egypt.The start wasn't that bad. How the priest slaughters his family gave me the impression that it would be an acceptable horror movie. I could predict that in the distant future the saved son would return to his home as a teenager and would be confronted with his mysterious past. The introduction of Brian and his kind of weird mother pointed out it was clearly a low-budget film. Once the mother goes to the hospital and the boy, now called John Petrie, goes to the town where the house is for sale of which he's the only heir, it gets a little better and even at times a little exciting. The cliché ingredients are again used such as ghosts appearing around the corner, creaking floors and doors that open by themselves. There were also moments when something appears behind someone and afterwards there is nothing anymore when that person turns around . It's all in there, and after the umpteenth time you're kind of bored of it. There's only one commendable moment in the whole film as Brian stands next to his old crib.Then there is the introduction of Emma. A girl that came from i-don't-know-where and moved into the house, because it was already empty for some time. She wasn't very convincing and changed spontaneously from an arrogant kid to a loving and seducing teen girl. They are complete strangers for each other, but suddenly it seems as if they know each other for years. Together they come to the incoherent and incomprehensible discovery what the priest was trying to achieve and something is brought up as the "fifth nail". Then there's a senior police officer who retired after the incident who's still looking for the truth. They will organize a seance to find the solution.And from here on it just get worse. The ghosts look abominable and the effects look very outdated. When victims return as living dead and want to finish the unfinished task, it really starts to look completely amateurish. In particular how the kids save themselves in the final scene. That looked like a really old 70's horror movie. The highlight was a zombie falling into a nail that finished him of.A mixture of all sorts of horror genres with a strong start, but a historically bad endingMore reviews at http://opinion-as-a-moviefreak.blogspot.be/

lathe-of-heaven I really did honestly try to like this film. I normally do like small little low budget Indie Horror films, I really do. And, I think the premise was just fine. But, sadly, the script just ultimately took it down, I'm afraid. I don't think that the idea was developed very well; and I didn't feel that the direction was all that hot. The movie wasn't HORRIBLE by any means; there was some good camera work and a few suspenseful scenes, but all in all in my lowly and wretched opinion, I just didn't feel that it came together very well.Now, if you handed a film like this to a director like Ti West, for example, I think someone with his talent could have shaped and improved it substantially. There is nothing specifically awful about the film; some of the performances aren't really that great, but I do think the key with this one would have been having at LEAST a far more talented director who would have seen the weaknesses in the script and corrected them in addition to directing it in a tighter, more effective way.Now, let's get to the GOOD part...EMMA!!! I know, I know, I'm just being a perv guy here, BUT something about her... I thought that she was quite lovely... (sigh) Anyway, sorry... it is not very often that one of the Hollywood ladies catches my attention to this extent, but THIS one sure did!Anyway, my humble apologies, back to the film...So, I can't in all honestly really recommend it; it's just not that great. I was truly hoping for a much better film...

ersinkdotcom When reviewing movies, it's sometimes hard to judge them fairly by the mediums they were created for. For instance, to come down as hard on a TV-movie created on a small budget as you do a bigger one like the "A Nightmare on Elm Street" remake would be unjust. That's how I tried to look at Chiller's "Dead Souls."Johnny Petrie (Jesse James) inherits an old farmhouse on his 18th birthday from a family he didn't even know he had. Tired of living under the thumb of his overprotective aunt (Geraldine Hughes), he decides to visit his boyhood home and solve the mystery as to who he really is. Upon arriving, he discovers his father (J.H. Torrance Downes) was a local preacher in the small Maine town. He went crazy one night and murdered his entire family, leaving the restless spirits of his mother (Elizabeth Irene) and siblings (Kyle Donnery and Bridget Megan Clark) trapped in the house for eternity."Dead Souls" is an effective little supernatural thriller from Chiller directing regular Colin Theys. He does as well here with the haunted house genre as he did with the zombie genre when he helmed Steve Niles' "Remains." That might not win many over, but I thought the Las Vegas-set living dead tale was an entertaining entry into the world of Saturday Night straight-to-cable B-movies.Things tend to happen quickly in a 90-minute movie based on a 295-page novel. Yes, character development in the movie feels a bit rushed and it would have been nice to get them a little more fleshed out, but overall I thought director Theys and screenwriter John Doolan did what they could with the time they had allotted.Just like most low-budget horror films, "Dead Souls" has one big genre actor it relies on to help bring in fans. In this case, we have Bill Moseley ("Texas Chainsaw Massacre II," "The Devil's Rejects") playing the retired town sheriff who's privy to the dark secret the old farmhouse and its property holds. Moseley adds a level of legitimacy to the movie, as I'm sure filmmakers were counting on."Dead Souls" is presented in 1080p High-Definition Widescreen (1.78:1) and both DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 surround sound and DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 stereo. The picture quality is clear, clean, and easy on the eyes. Whether you watch it utilizing the 5.1 surround sound or 2.0 stereo, there are plenty of creepy bumps, screams, and jolting sound effects to keep the viewer on the edge of their seat in anticipation of jumping through the roof.Special features on the Blu-ray release of "Dead Souls" include commentary provided by Director Colin Theys, Producer Andrew Gernhard, and Screenwriter John Doolan. There's also a tour of the set guided by Director Theys. Bloopers and TV spots round out the bonus material.Whether it was his intentions or not, "Dead Souls" writer Michael Laimo did a great job warning audiences what happens when you lose faith in God and begin to think you need something else as a religious supplement to the Bible. I'm speaking as a movie critic who happens to be a Christian, of course. This shows the tragedy the fallen preacher's family suffered all because he didn't fully believe and rely on God to take care of them and their eternal souls. To make a long explanation short, it highlights the dangers of mixing cult and Biblical beliefs together.I'm a sucker for ghost stories and, while not being as solid as theatrical releases like "Sinister" and others, "Dead Souls" still delivers enough scares to make it worth the viewer's time. The film does leave a little too much to the imagination sometimes when it comes to minor plot points. It relies on the audience's common sense to come into play and fill in what we don't see transpire on screen. However, if you can get past its weak points and just enjoy the movie for what it is, you'll find a decent little thriller here to keep you entertained on a Saturday night at the house.

gavin6942 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.