The Soul Eater (2024)

"Franck" (Paul Hamy) is hitching his way to a small French village when he is picked up by "Elisabeth" (Virginie Ledoyen). It turns out that she is a police officer send to lead an investigation of double murder and that he is a captain in the national gendarmerie on a continuing mission to track down missing children - a trail that led him to this ostensibly sleepy hamlet. Reminiscent a little of "Doctor Sleep" (2019), the place is overlooked by a sanatorium and quickly the two, initially suspicious of each other, start to realise that their mysterious cases might well be linked. What doesn't really help is a local folklore about the eponymous monster who feeds off the souls of the deceased townsfolk - and as the film gathers pace it seems to be heading for quite a brutal and bloody feast. There might be one really important clue. "Evan" (Cameron Bain) who is the survivor of the apparent self-killings of his parents. What did he see? What does he know? Anything? His psychiatrist "Marbas" (Sandrine Bonnaire) is determined that her charge be left to recuperate, but "Franck" knows he is the link... At times, this is a tensely directed murder mystery but as the plot develops it also rather thins out and neither of the lead characters really offer us much by way of chemistry as serendipity plays just a bit too much of an hand in a denouement that does have quite a fitting twist, but also has something too much of the "Scooby Do" about it. It does just about work in a cinema, the wooded landscapes and the eeriness help it out quite a lot, but on television it will be pretty ordinary.

The Soul Easter walks a, by now, well trodden crime drama path but does little to distinguish itself. Starting out well enough with an outlandishly gruesome and inexplicable series of crimes, in a sleepy French village, this story builds to a disturbingly predictable and somewhat contextually emaciated, conclusion. Perhaps "nothing" is all the key protagonist is left with but you really do feel a little more is needed, by way of resolution. Acting is above average but the rather truncated character development, with a pronounced and possibly intentional, remoteness between the main characters, doesn't lend itself to truly sterling performances. In summary, this is not a bad film. There's a lot to like, if that's the right word. That said, it fails to really bring the full emotional impact and comprehension of whats transpired, to the forefront, robbing it of an epiphany, of sorts, that would have rendered this film "special". As it stands, a reasonable, if unexceptional watch.