THE SOUL COLLECTOR (8: A SOUTH AFRICAN HORROR STORY) (2019)

Studio:      Shout Studios
Director:    Harold Holscher
Writer:      Harold Holscher
Producer:  Jac Williams
Stars:     Tshamano Sebe, Inge Beckmann, Keita Luna, Garth Breytenbach, Chris April, Luxolo Ndabedi, Owam Amey

Review Score:

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Summary:

A South African family moves into a farmhouse haunted by a man whose desire to resurrect his dead daughter turned him into a demon’s reluctant emissary.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Grieving village healer Lazarus tries using dark magic to resurrect his beloved daughter Vuyiswa after her death in a tragic fire. The demon Uthuli ends up possessing Vuyiswa’s body. Lazarus becomes cursed to reluctantly carry Uthuli around South Africa in a large leather sack in search of souls for it to feed on. One of Lazarus’ victims is William’s father.

In 1977, William and Sarah move into William’s father’s farmhouse with their orphaned niece Mary. The family meets Lazarus, who claims to have worked for William’s father. Despite Sarah’s untrusting suspicions about the mysterious man, Lazarus befriends Mary and takes up residence in a shed when William hires him to help repair the property.

Village shaman Obara warns locals including Suno that Lazarus and the demon have returned. While helping Mary bury a pet worm, Lazarus explains how moths carry souls, including those of Mary’s dead parents. Sarah talks to William about her inability to bear a child of her own.

After seeing Suno spying on Lazarus, William drives into the village to introduce himself. Lazarus accompanies William. William mistakes hostility toward Lazarus as being directed at him, which Lazarus reinforces by purposefully mistranslating their invectives. Obara vows to leave Lazarus to his business on the farm if Lazarus promises to stay away from the village.

Uthuli warns Lazarus that he is growing too close to Mary, whom Uthuli plans to possess. Sarah spies Lazarus hauling his sack to the village, although she does not know Uthuli hides inside. After sneaking into her home, Lazarus performs a ritual that puts Suno’s mother’s soul inside a moth, which Uthuli consumes.

Uthuli tries suffocating Sarah under a towel while she bathes. William disbelieves Sarah’s claims of something being amiss on the farm.

Mary befriends an apparent vision of Vuyiswa. Sarah finds Mary in her room speaking to no one.

To exact vengeance for his mother’s murder, Suno ignores Obara’s advice and steals Lazarus’ sack. Thinking he can destroy Lazarus and the demon if he destroys the sack, Suno brings the bag into the forest. Lazarus initiates a confrontation in which Suno ends up stabbed with his own knife. Lazarus curses the demon for causing Suno’s death.

Obara stabs Lazarus from behind, but Lazarus merely resurrects. Lazarus implies only fire can bring him peace.

Sarah eavesdrops on Lazarus plotting with Uthuli. Sarah uses a bloody shirt to accuse Lazarus of murder while telling William about the girl she saw in Lazarus’ sack. Sarah insists that William banish Lazarus, but William only terminates his employment while allowing Lazarus to stay one more night.

William leaves the farm to pick up generator fuel. Sarah goes to the shed to confront Lazarus herself but ends up captured. Lazarus then lures Mary into the forest where they converse around a campfire about death and protecting each other.

William returns home to find Obara and the villagers marching toward Lazarus’ shed. William frees Sarah from her rope restraints. Obara explains that Lazarus feeds souls to the demon Uthuli as he warns William that Mary is in danger. A tracker rushes into the forest with William to look for Mary while the villagers perform a ritual at the farm. Meanwhile, Lazarus performs his own ritual that renders Mary unconscious.

Obara’s sangomas ultimately burn Lazarus’ shed. In the woods at the same time, Lazarus and his sack spontaneously combust. William finds Mary unconscious.

Mary speaks with Lazarus in the spirit realm. Lazarus apologizes for betraying Mary while explaining that what he did was the only way to save his daughter. Lazarus presents Mary with a moth and says her soul can choose to go with her parents or return to the real world. Before making her choice and vanishing, Mary makes a pact with Lazarus to meet again.

Sarah discovers she is inexplicably pregnant. Obara and the villagers become workers on William’s farm. Sarah swallows a moth while mentally reciting the same monologue about a wanderer that Lazarus was heard speaking previously.

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Review:

Somewhere in remote South African countryside in 1977, William and Sarah are giving themselves and their recently orphaned niece Mary a fresh start. Following his father’s unexpected death, William inherited his family’s vacant farm. The sprawling property keeps all-thumbs William busy with countless fixer-upper projects while providing much-needed tranquility for the entire family.

Then Lazarus arrives with a large leather sack slung over his shoulder. Ominously outfitted like a Dark Tower gunslinger in a wide-brimmed hat and dirty duster, Lazarus claims to have once worked for William’s father. Despite an unsettling suspicion Sarah has about Lazarus, William could use the mysterious man’s help getting the house in shape. Besides, Lazarus already befriended Mary with colorful legends about how her worm collection can transform into moths capable of carrying human souls, just like those of her dead parents.

Lazarus knows a thing or three about death in the family and harvesting spirits. Local rumors recall that Lazarus, distraught over the fiery death of his daughter, tried resurrecting the girl only to end up an unwitting servant of the demon Uthuli. Lazarus now wanders the hills, plains, and forests in search of souls for Uthuli, whose pretzel-twisted body hides in the bag on Lazarus’ back.

Cautious whispers rise again when villagers learn Lazarus returned to their land. Conflicted by his inherit kindness, Lazarus doesn’t wish to be the ostracized outsider he was cursed to become. But Uthuli’s insistence on feeding means Lazarus has little choice but to keep his sights trained on the trio, only one of whom detects the darkness Lazarus brought to their home.

Previously titled “8: A South African Horror Story,” “The Soul Collector” is as visually rich as gothic chillers get. David Pienaar’s gallery-ready cinematography hones each shot with such detailed sharpness, it feels like images could be capable of cutting a viewer’s eye. Panoramic landscapes fully immerse wide environments in a unique time and place that’s breathtaking to behold. Although as alluring as the rolling country scenery can be, “The Soul Collector” does become overly obsessed with excessive establishing shots, presenting only the first of the movie’s plentiful problems with pacing.

A narrative that’s just as vividly realized heightens the setting’s lushness. The story swims in South African-specific lore about “sangomas” (witch doctors), mystic soul transfers, and purgatory planes between reality and death. Reductively, such elements aren’t dissimilar from what horror audiences are used to regarding demonic possession, reincarnation, and black magic bargains backfiring. Nevertheless, seeing themes involving resurrecting the dead, occult rituals, and shamanism framed through another culture’s superstitions freshens these frights so familiarity doesn’t become burdensome.

Performances hit for par on an adjacent green of technical excellence. Tshamano Sebe commandingly strangles his scenes by personifying a tragically tormented man who heartbreakingly panhandles for sympathy while also operating under a dark cloud of possibly ill intent. Sebe’s eyes, gait, and everything about how he adjusts his posture or extends his arms when interacting with little Mary (Keita Luna) balances invitingly paternal warmth with disquieting warnings to still be wary.

As Sarah, Inge Beckmann draws a short straw by having to be the person who is immediately uncomfortable with Lazarus for no apparent reason other than perhaps race. Because we know her reservations are warranted, this puts Sarah in a weird position of being right about Lazarus for the wrong reason, resulting in an uncertain attitude about how to take her too. Garth Breytenbach initially injects William with patient tolerance to get on our good side. Except the script kneecaps him as well by having subsequent scenes reduce William to a typically dismissive husband who waves a hand whenever his wife spouts another unbelievable assertion.

Uneven characterizations notwithstanding, “The Soul Collector” does so much so well that it’s a true pity to be unable to recommend the movie without caveats. Despite the musculature of a solidly streamlined setup, engaging performances, and arresting photography, “The Soul Collector” doesn’t have enough heat in its beat to breathe pulsating life into its spectacular but static shell.

It’s astonishing to realize the film runs only 100 minutes because it feels at least a full hour longer than it is. It’s not that the movie boringly drags its feet either. Trimming shots that linger too long wouldn’t lighten the load significantly. Forward movement stays mostly maintained even when plot points stop to sit and stew for a spell.

The issue is that the flame on the tempo’s long wick flickers so faintly, a black hole of “je ne sais quoi” opens to snuff out the slow build of suspense. So many sequences focus on atmospheric eeriness, e.g. oil lamplight passing shadows over furniture covered in dust cloths, stagnation smothers the story’s ability to consistently captivate. “The Soul Collector” disengages attention spans at each yawning turn that includes tiptoeing in darkness, bolting upright in bed after a nightmare, or another fleeting glimpse of something unusual that no one follows up on.

Absence of urgency creates an experience where it’s deflating to acknowledge overwhelmingly exquisite craftsmanship only to come away feeling unfulfilled on less superficial levels. Fearful folklore provides kindling. Strong acting strikes a spark. But screenwriting too reliant on mood to provide fuel forgets to energize the fire with gripping resonance. That turns out to be an unfortunate tragedy condemning “The Soul Collector” to wander an in-between world as it fights to find a fully self-aware spirit.

Review Score: 50

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