You like those dotcom commercials? The ones with sped up herky-jerky motion, and cool electro-bright colors? Or those Mercedes-Benz TV ads, with the sudden flashes of white intercutting sepia-toned shots of cars careening amidst a starkly cold environment? How about "coming of the Antichrist/Armageddon" films? Can't get enough of those?
Even wanna see an Antichrist film featuring the visuals of a dotcom commercial? Now's your chance!
This is no putdown. Storywise and stylistically, Lost Souls breathes new vibrant life into Revelations. No mean feat, considering the oh-so-many times horror (and other genres) have retold the familiar tale of the End Of Times.
Lost Souls retells the Revelation mythos from the perspective of a reluctant Antichrist. Peter Kelso (Ben Chaplin) is an atheist and best-selling author, slowly convinced by Maya (Winona Ryder) that on his 33rd birthday his body will be "taken over" by Satan. At which moment Peter will "cease to exist." (This slow self-awareness of one's own divine mission mirrors that of Christ in The Last Temptation of Christ - although, in this case, Peter will no longer be "Peter.")
Online discussion indicates that horror fandom's opinion of Lost Souls is sharply divided. The controversy includes the story (especially its "small" ending), but is primarily directed at the film's visuals.
Regarding the story: One fan praised the film for its provocative questioning of the nature of religion, God, and Satan. I disagree that it does that, although I join the film's admirers. Lost Souls's perspective is intriguing, but not subversive. Its fundamental story is rigidly faithful to Revelations. God is all-good and all-powerful. Satan is evil, the Great Deceiver. Man (or woman, i.e., Maya) can defeat Satan with sufficient Faith in Christ.
About that "small" ending. Many viewers have a problem with it. How does one end an Antichrist film? If one's expectations derive from The Omen trilogy, The Omega Code, The Devil's Advocate, The Seventh Sign, or The Visitor, one may expect impending Armageddon. Thunder and lightning, natural disasters and military battles, eardrum-shattering music and sound effects, even melting faces and flocks of doves. But director Janusz Kaminski thwarts our expectations. His ending is unexpectedly "small." A rising buildup to ... an abrupt whimper, not a bang.
As the credits roll, you wonder: That's it? That's the end? And yet ...
His ending is deceptively anticlimactic.
Give it time. It'll linger in your thoughts, and grow. An ending that's dark and moody and somber, one that you'll still be contemplating the next day. More so than when you saw it.
Warning: Don't return the video immediately after viewing it. Not unless you must. You'll want to see Lost Souls again, the very next day.
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