THE SOUL EATER (aka LE MANGEUR D’AMES, 2023)

New On Demand from Capelight Pictures!
Directed by Alexandre Bustillo, Julien Maury.
Written by Annelyse Batrel, Ludovic Lefebvre, Alexis Laipsker.
Check out the trailer here!!

A series of violent and strange murders take place in a small French mountain village, drawing an obsessive detective Franck de Rolan (Paul Hamy) and a strict special agent Elizabeth Guardiano (Virginie Ledoyen) to the scene to investigate. Both prefer to work alone, but when the body count of these killings intensify and answers continue to elude them, they pair up to solve the case. The only clue that both arrive at is that it involves a local legend called The Soul Eater, which, of course, eats souls and destroys families.

I will always follow directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury because of their jaw-dropping and soul-shattering film INSIDE. But honestly, while there have been a few moments of goodness from the pair of filmmakers with films like LIVIDE, AMONG THE LIVING, and maybe bits of KANDISHA, I have been more disappointed than impressed with their work since their intense debut about a pregnant woman desperately fighting against a baby-snatcher who wants to carve the child from her womb. It almost feels like the duo peaked with INSIDE and never have been able to achieve such intensity since.

In THE SOUL EATER, shock horror is replaced by a police procedural, told from the perspective of two different lawmakers in search of a brutal killer. While we see the crime scene afterwards and later, are made privy to the gruesome acts that went down in flashback, the bulk of THE SOUL EATER focuses on the professional relationship between de Rolan and Guardiano, as both officers are working outside of the local law enforcement and find themselves outcasts among their own while investigating the case. There are very gruesome aspects and possibly paranormal ones as well at play here, but the interest lays firmly in the detective genre here as the cops try to piece together an inexplicable case.

THE SOUL EATER has all of the detective drama cliches going on. There’s the witness kid who won’t talk. The car chases. The foot chases through the woods. The possible conspiracy from within. And two unlikely partners learning to work together to solve the crime. It’s all there, which is fine and dandy. I’m glad Bustillo and Maury did their homework, but the film forgets to really add anything new to the mix. Now, had THE SOUL EATER incorporated some of the claustrophobic ultra-violence that we saw in INSIDE, that would have made for an interesting little detective drama that distinguishes itself from every episode of REMINGTON STEELE or HUNTER or any buddy cop flick or TV show you can think of. Instead, it borrows the blueprint of those films and TV shows and plays everything straight and safe.

One thing THE SOUL EATER lacks all the way through is passion. Sure, Agent Guardiano has suffered the loss of her child and apparently almost took her own life afterwards. Yes, de Rolan is dedicated to catching the killer and seems to have a soft spot for missing children. But never is there a moment in this film that any kind of emotion is let loose. Ledoyen is buttoned up and proper as Guardiano. The epitome of professionalism, attempting not to crack under the pressure of this case. Hamy is reckless as de Rolan, but never really suffers that much, aside from a few bumps and bruises despite tossing himself into danger. Now, I didn’t want THE SOUL EATER to go Hollywood and have the two lawmakers hook up, but I think a little sexual tension between the two would have helped make me more invested in the two’s pairing being successful in solving the case. I don’t know if it was the actors, or the writing, or the directing, or what, but the two leads end up being as passionate as a cup of warm tap water.

It feels as if this is Bustillo and Maury’s attempt to play it safe and go mainstream with their work. Yes, there are some gruesome details about the murders, but everything is explained to us by a forensics officer and very little is seen. I feel had this film been more in the moment of the murders and given the viewer some of that claustrophobic carnage we saw in INSIDE, the film would have been infinitely more successful. Instead, we are given a few murder scenes after the fact, a flashback, some very blandly shot action scenes, and a few scenes of a monster that looks rather goofy with its’ giant triangle head which reminded me more of the MacNight guy than anything remotely scary.

THE SOUL EATER is entirely too long as well. By the hour mark, I was struggling with consciousness and disconnected completely, and the film went on for about an hour more. This is a by-the-book detective thriller with not even a whiff of flair or anything else to make it stand out. It’s another miss from Bustillo and Maury. But I’ll be there next time rooting this filmmaking team on to take back that horror greatness they showed in their feature debut.