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Movie Review by The Gravedigger
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08.02.06
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Charlie Carter (newcomer Luke Tingle)is a young, single-white male who has recently moved from the East Coast to Los Angeles, the City of Angels (this is an important plot point). He seems entirely too normal but has these horrific nightmares of robed, sinister looking devil-worshippers. He meets an odd woman named Cat while he's doing laundry and goes to visit her where she works-which turns out to be a strip joint. There he meets a guy who says he's an old high school friend, who gives him his phone number to catch up. The friend invites him to a party, where Charlie meets Jade Lovecraft (Julie St. Claire), an older woman who immediately takes a liking to him. They leave the party, go to Charlie's apartment and have sex. The next thing he knows, he goes out of town with her to a small town in Oregon, where things start to get weird-and the viewer gets the sense that none of what has happened to him so far is mere coincidence.
I don't want to give the rest of it away, but it's along the lines of those THE PROPHECY movies. Character actor Billy Drago (HILLS HAVE EYES remake) portrays "The Man in Black", who may have the answers to Charlie's questions. In a nod to JACOB'S LADDER, Robert Rusler (NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET 2, VAMP, SOMETIMES THEY COME BACK) is the chiropractor Dr. Geoke (sort of like the Danny Aeillo role in JL), and Chris Mitchum has a small part as Sheriff Traft. Of course, the director has a cameo in the movie as well.
My biggest complaint has to do with the main character and actor. In retrospect it makes sense for the plot that he seems innocent and like a kid--but his puppy dog enthusiasm grates on you after the first twenty-minutes and you really want something bad to happen to him, if for the wrong reasons. However, actress Julie St. Claire more than makes up for him, as she has quite a screen presence and is one of the better actors in the movie. The production value of the movie, shot in film, is also strong.
Overall, SOUL SEARCHERS has a 70's feel to it, like SECRET OF HARVEST HOME, and those nightmare sequences do make you jump. It will be interesting to see in what direction writer/director Bentley Mitchum will go in his next production.
For more info check out the recent interview with Bentley Mitchum in the interview section of buried.com
also, his website is
www.bentleymitchum.com
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Rating: 10.0 out of 10.0 - 2 votes cast total
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