Lost Souls Review

Ryder plays Maya, a woman who was formerly demonically possessed and exorcised by a priest Father Lareaux - John Hurt. She`s now on a mission to recognise possession and help the Father in his work. In an attempt to remove the demons possessing a murderer, Lareaux falls ill and Maya is left to decipher the mad man`s writings. She discovers that the devil is waiting in the wings to possess a famous writer, Peter Kelson - Ben Chaplin - a notorious non-believer in anything spiritual. She tries to convince Kelson that he is the son of incest, as predicted, and that when he turns 33 - which is imminent - the world will belong to the dark one..... Her ally is lay worker John - Elias Koteas. Dangerous territory awaits them all... Lost Souls is the debut feature of Steven Spielberg cinematographer Janusz Kaminski who shot Shindler`s List and Saving Private Ryan and there`s no doubting the look of the film is very impressive, but it`s like a rather empty painting in a decorative frame. There`s not a lot that makes sense here demonically, it`s all a bit hysterical. And the characters are given very superficial treatment, their relationships virtually unexplained and unexplored. Why do people who are obviously superb at their work, like Kaminski, want to be a director? Comments from David StrattonIt`s a mystery why the distributor held this exorcism thriller up until after the re-release of the granddaddy of Exorcist thrillers, THE EXORCIST. This first feature by cameraman Janusz Kaminski is very stylishly filmed, but the plot is a bit murky and conventional. There are some effective moments of dread, a strong cast, and Winona Ryder gives a persuasive performance, but too much of this demonic possession extravaganza has been re-cycled from better films.