Soul Searcher (2005)

It's no definitive masterpiece but it's damn close.

Very interesting film. Was caught on the premise when seeing the trailer but unsure as to what the outcome would be for the showing. As it turns out, it was a very good film.

I really wanted to like this movie. I feel terribly cynical trashing it, and that's why I'm giving it a middling 5. Actually, I'm giving it a 5 because there were some superb performances.

A story that's too fascinating to pass by...

The one bit of SOUL SEARCHER trivia that no viewer can avoid is that it was produced for 28,000 pounds – the modern-day equivalent of about $53,000. While this shows that first-time director Neil Oseman is an extremely frugal filmmaker who can pull off a fully-fledged action-fantasy with the minimum of resources, I am sorry to say that it does not make for a very good movie. To me, SOUL SEARCHER is among the worst kinds of films – a chore to watch. There are some good things to it, but overall, this just isn't very fun.The story: An unsuspecting young man (Ray Bullock, Jr.) is recruited by the Grim Reaper (Jonny Lewis) to take over his position and stop the plan of a supernatural entity (Aj Nicole) to merge earth and hell.The primary occupation of director Oseman is cinematography, and as a result, the movie looks good at a glance – not at all like the jerky indie crud you usually associate with this kind of budget, despite the amplitude of hand-held camera-work. There are also some traditional effects used to create various supernatural imagery, and I appreciate the 80s throwback. However, beyond this, the movie is in bad shape. The editing could be a lot better and a lot of the computer-generated effects are not integrated particularly well. The relentless nighttime setting is depressing. Worst of all is the lack of interesting characters. Absolutely none of the people inhabiting this picture are either likable or intriguing enough to merit investment in the storyline, and as a result, a handful of cool plot devices (e.g. the umbilical cord concept of ghosts) are wasted.Inexplicably, this is also a martial arts movie. The making-of feature goes on about how the filmmakers strived to add a Hong Kong flavor to the fights and how the Hong Kong style is superior to the western style, but these notions are meaningless because, for the most part, these fights suck. The eastern influence is indeed there in the kung fu choreography and the marginally longer shots, but the combatants are almost universally slow and often look very uncomfortable swinging swords and scythes at each other. Their poor pacing and the lack of sound effects do not help, to the point that I only give one of the seven brawls (the final showdown) a passing grade.I really wanted to like this movie, but too many cinematic shortcomings converged to make this anything more than an exercise in viewer patience. The 98-minute runtime absolutely dragged, and the best part of this experience has been writing this review. Nick Oseman demonstrated that a lot can be done with relatively little money and a lot of determination, and I would be happy to see him helm a bigger-budgeted feature, but this passion project of his is not nearly as good as I had hoped it would be.

It's tempting to start this review with 'if you can get past the dubious acting and cheap special effects' but actually, about an hour into the film, I found myself so involved in the story that the production values ceased to be a problem. The script and the characters are what really hold the film together and the inexperienced actors do manage to bring it to life enough for the viewer to be taken along with it. The most amazing thing about this film, though, is the ambition and ultimate achievement of the filmmakers. Soul Searcher is by no means perfect, but what is impressive is that the filmmakers have not allowed the small budget and the fact that horror/fantasy is pretty non-existent in the UK define the kind of film they wanted to make. This is not for everyone, and is perhaps purely a film for filmmakers as an understanding of how much time and effort goes into making any kind of film with no money helps to appreciate what a monumental achievement Soul Searcher is (and the DVD has more than enough extra's to make this an essential part of any aspiring filmmaker's collection). At the same time, there is a well-told, engaging story here that often takes the film beyond its low budget roots into what will surely be remembered as a cult classic.

I only recently saw this film and was moved, as a film-maker myself to post a comment here on its' merits. Apparently made over three years on a budget of £26,000 the result is an outstanding example of sheer effort against all the odds. The technical results need no apology from anyone. The sheer guts and bravado of its' makers, all of them, most of all the Director Neil Oseman, (watch "The Making Of" on the DVD), deserve all the kudos they have coming to them. Notable also is score composer Scott Benzie's wonderfully realised, talented, and integrated orchestral music. You'll learn also that Mr Benzie conducted the 56 piece orchestra and recorded all the music cues in one day. I wonder also if Ray Harryhausen has seen this film. Impressed he would be of the efforts here. Ray him self was no stranger to "hand-made" film-making at the outset of his career and for his first two or three features certainly. This team deserve as real crack with a realistic budget, but, once they have recovered from the sheer bloody hard work of making this, I have no doubt Mr Oseman will do another movie. Finally, with all this "qualification", does it work as a movie. Yes, it does. Hats off, guys. Well done from me. Anyone out there who thinks they can make a better movie, in the round, than this, on the same budget and resources...have a go. You're in for a shock that will change your life. I remember reading the comment of another film-maker who had made a much less ambitious movie than this on roughly the same resources. He said, "I got it finished, but I have'nt been the same person since".

...faith, determination and guts producing an interesting indie movie against all odds. Some of the shots pulled off in this are flat-out incredible for such a low-budget flick, and the breakdowns of how these were achieved on the DVD make for fascinating viewing. I don't think I've ever seen someone try and pull off this kind of movie on this kind of budget before, and it's something to behold. The plot feels a bit muddled in places, (especially in the final third), but the pace never flags and neither does the level of invention. Anyone carping about rough edges has missed the point by a mile. I'm looking forward to seeing if the crew have enough energy to try this again further down the line, as I'll pounce on the DVD straight away if they do.