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Review by Susan Granger
½ star out of 4
You gotta wonder about a Winona Ryder movie that was
supposed to be released in 1999 and doesn't make it into theaters
until Friday the 13th in October, 2000. In this faith vs. reason
supernatural thriller, Winona plays a devout Catholic who is not only
obsessed with the concept of demonic possession but often hallucinates
about Satan. She was once exorcised by a priest (John Hurt) and is now
convinced that the Devil is about to re-appear on Earth in the body of
an atheistic, best-selling criminology writer (Ben Chaplin) who
believes "Good and Evil are only illusions" and that serial killers
are motivated by "malignant narcissism." True, he's been troubled by
weird dreams in which the letters XES appear. When his brother points
out that the letters spell SEX backwards, he's mollified - at least
until he learns that XES is also the Roman numeral "666," the sign of
the Devil, and a renegade priest tries to shoot him, muttering, "The
time of transformation is near!" Written by Pierce Gardner, this
mangled, derivative muddle of banal mumbo-jumbo is based on his story
with Betsy Stahl, and Oscar-winning cinematographer Janusz Kaminski
("Schindler's List," "Saving Private Ryan") makes an inauspicious
directorial debut. Working with lenser Mauro Fiore, Kaminski's stark,
stylized lighting and surrealistic imagery create a creepy atmosphere
of murky darkness, heightened by Jay Riddle's special effects and Jan
Kacmarek's score. It's no stretch for Winona Ryder to be a terrified,
wide-eyed waif (i.e.: "Bram Stoker's Dracula" and "Alien IV"), but
credit Ben Chaplin for not laughing at her when he says: "You really
should get some professional help." On the Granger Movie Gauge of 1 to
10, "Lost Souls" is a far-fetched 2. "Deliver us from evil..." says
the ads. Deliver us from movies like this!
Copyright © 2000 Susan Granger
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out of 4
