Another Soul Film Review

A Lifeless, Unimaginative Exorcist Copycat

If Another Soul was intended to be a parodical homage to early 1970 copycats of The Exorcist then it certainly nails that goal but if this is supposed to be viewed as a genuine horror film, Another Soul can only be described as a disappointing, lacklustre effort. With a profound lack of enthusiastic energy to help drive the narrative forward, Another Soul trudges along with its predictably clichéd story through its 78 minute run time. In an age where horror is becoming increasingly difficult to get right, Another Soul is a timeless reminder of how bad this genre can get.

The story begins with a young couple attempting to start a fresh life in their newly acquired house after being on the run for quite some time. The opening shot shows their daughter Megan (Sarah Smithton) awakening in the night convinced someone or something is stalking her. It quickly becomes apparent a spiritual force is lingering inside the house and what follows is a predictable demon possession complete with all the bells and whistles that go with this clichéd, overdone trope. From an attempted exorcism to the demon itself plodding around the house and ensuing area, Another Soul revels in the generic plot developments found in this genre but fails to emulate any of it with enthusiasm or care.

This sloppiness inevitably spills over to the film’s acting which is shocking to say the least. Monotonous, unenthusiastic lines of expository dialogue are followed by out-of-place melodrama while some of the longer shots feature characters staring expressionless at whoever’s speaking in a woeful, wooden display taking you completely out of the plot. To be fair to Another Soul, the acting late on does improve slightly but most of this is thanks to the predominantly fearful expressions the core group of characters adopt.

Another Soul feels like the movie version of painting by numbers. The main structure of the plot is already laid out within the opening 10 minutes with little room for deviation on the conventional storyline it adopts. The characters inhabiting the world all serve the usual predictable tropes you’d expect from an exorcism film but with a profound lack of enthusiasm, energy and compelling acting, make this a 70 minute film that’s more of a chore to sit through than it has any right to be. While the film does attempt to inject a little originality late on, it all feels too little too late for this disappointing effort.