The Soul Collector

source: The Soul Collector

I absolutely loved this movie, everything about it... the originality, the story, the acting, the tension, the scares... but never in my life, not ONCE, has an ending RUINED the entire movie for me. Every last positive thing about it has just been swept away by real life anger and resentment. I'm honestly sitting here, so frustrated and furious beyond belief, because of a MOVIE ENDING. Yes, it's directed at the filmmakers for trying to be "different" and "impactful".. it most definitely had an impact, that's for sure... it's ruined my night and my mood. I guess you can say this movie is a true one of a kind achievement for eliciting such actual feelings from the person watching it. Except, I would equate these feelings to the exact same I would have, say, after watching Dane Cook do an entire set insulting and making fun of my mother at her own funeral. Yes, I know that sounds stupid and ridiculous, but I'm seriously that enraged right now. God, I need a cigarette...

It does starts slow, but builds up to a great story. Looking at the SFX, for a South African movie, the SFX has grown up from where it was. The aspect of the limbo dimension is brilliant and the soul vessel. It takes time to come alive, but I enjoyed it.

The film opens with an older man on his death bed. With his final breath, he sees another man by his side, and instantly the old man in his bed passes away while the stranger walks away. On the flip side, the film introduces us to a family which consists of William (Garth Breytenbach), his wife Sarah (Inge Beckmann) and their adopted daughter Mary (Keita Luna). The family are driving back to William's family farm to attempt to start a new life. As they begin to settle in and restore the farm, young Mary meets a man in the woods named Lazarus. While Lazarus seems mysterious, he appears to be friendly towards Mary and soon meets her parents. Lazarus reveals that he used to work on the family farm a long time ago and offers his services, including fixing the generator which provides power to the house. While William and Mary see no harm in accepting the extra help, Sarah is not convinced on the stranger's intentions. But little does this family know, the older man who calls himself Lazarus is a soul collector and is capable of speaking to the dead. Lazarus made an ultimate deal with the devil in a desperate attempt to save his daughter's life and soul after a tragic house fire. An agreement was made, but unfortunately for Lazarus the deal he made was too late, and his daughter died. Now Lazarus roams the lands as he wrestles with his past and his inner demons are hungry for souls. The film's opening feels relatively slow mostly because nothing made sense to begin with. I'm proud to say after sticking with this film, it pays off significantly. I found this film hooked me in quite quickly as I was eager to understand more about Lazarus and ultimately, what path he will take when it comes to this new innocent family. Another element that surprised me is that this film is a directional debut by Harold Holscher. As a film debut, I am impressed by the results. The Soul Collector delivers something different and something quite mysterious, which held my investment right till the end. It's also shot well, even during quite dark scenes. And, most importantly, the sound design is also quite impacting and powerful for those that love using their home cinema and surround sound. As for negatives, I only have a few nitpicks with a release like this. The film's opening, while being mysterious, takes risks in regards to its pacing, and I would imagine some watching the movie may check out quickly rather than having the patience to let the story reveal all the details. While the film is classed as a horror, the film relies on good old jump scares which personally didn't deliver any real suspense. For some viewers, these jump scares could be effective. The film's ending did bring me slight disappointment as some elements are entirely unclear and may offer a different view depending on the interpretation of the audience member. For me, the weaker ending was a significant factor as I enjoyed everything that was being built up towards it. Overall, as a directional debut, I am genuinely impressed by this film. It's quite mysterious, and I enjoyed how dark this film was. Performances are pleasing, particularly from actor Tshamano Sebe who plays The Soul Collector named Lazarus. Visually, this film is also pleasing and carries an impressive audio track. The movie exceeded my expectations, and I look forward to the director's next film, which I'll gladly support in advance. The Soul Collector is easy to recommend for those seeking a new style of horror film. 6.4/10 - Walkden Entertainment

A simple and interesting movie..a one time movie if you enjoy suspense films..good mood and script

I wAs surprised to see this with such low scores. This is such a unique and original film that also feels non fiction. Starts a little slow but the buildup was good in the second half! Don't want to give any spoilers but was a little unsure of the meaning of the ending. Overall pretty impressed by this film, the acting, storytelling, sense of dread and even displayed importance of family.

Great performance from Tshamano Sebe, the rest are forgettable as is the story. Great photography and landscapes and an interesting idea that toys with nature and the hereafter but that holds little water, no scares, no tension and fails to ultimately deliver anything worthwhile. Admittedly I did not have any subtitles so perhaps I am missing something but the ending was rather confusing - where did the little girl go and why was the soul eater re-incarnated/taken over the wife of the farmer, where did his demon/soul eater/daughter go, where did Lazarus go - who knows, only the writer perhaps but it does have a certain air of mystery and dread but not enough to carry the whole movie!

This is the trick guys, go into this movie knowing it's low budget and nothing over the top and you will kinda enjoy it. The story is somewhat original, 6/10

"An old man, fated to collect souls for eternity, seeks atonement after trading his daughter's soul." In the opening sequence of this "South African horror story", you see an old man lying in bed. His overdramatic make-up, surely applied in excess to indicate that he is dying, did not bode well for the rest of the film. Styling is key, and we have the talent in South Africa. The biggest problem with 8 is the script, though - the dialogue and story. Both feel staged and weirdly out of place. You could see the experienced/acclaimed actors struggling to deliver their convoluted lines, lines which are supposed to be profound, but end up just being silly ("We come in peace", "Life is death and death is life", etc). The horror tropes abound. A family arrives at a spooky house in the middle of the night. The electricity is off. There is something in the shadows. A pigeon flying out of a window scares everyone. There is the stranger, the other. The house creaks. Someone has made a deal with the devil; someone else has nightmares. Where I completely gave up, not that I was very intrigued from the start, was when William visits the local village to introduce himself as the new neighbour, the accountant-turned-farmer. When he does not receive the welcome he expects, he dashes off to the Mercedes and grabs a pistol from the cubby. One, the threat the villagers pose by asking him to leave does not demand a weapon. Two, it does not make sense for this mild-mannered pen-pusher to have a pistol, or for him to hold it behind his back. You must commend the South African film industry, where budgets are small, for attempting genres other than slapstick or drama, slightly more commercially viable options. That said, we still need to produce remarkable films. The highly anticipated Poppie Nongena, releasing in January, will be the new standard for South African film.

The idea was cool. But the movie was very slow. We had to fast forward after watching for 45 min. It was just so slow. The end was weird too. It just wasn't good. We didn't really like it.