Lost Souls (2000)

7% of critics liked it
(90 reviews)
26% of users liked it
(10,448 ratings)

A woman who has survived the touch of ultimate evil must now save one man from the same fate in order to protect the world in this supernatural thriller. Maya Larkin (Winona Ryder) is a devout Catholic who is said to have been possessed by a demon as a child; she now works with Father Lareaux (John… More A woman who has survived the touch of ultimate evil must now save one man from the same fate in order to protect the world in this supernatural thriller. Maya Larkin (Winona Ryder) is a devout Catholic who is said to have been possessed by a demon as a child; she now works with Father Lareaux (John Hurt) and John Townshend (Elias Koteas), fellow believers who perform exorcisms on troubled souls they believe are controlled by Satan. While performing an exorcism on a mass murderer, Henry Birdsong (John Diehl), Maya, and her cohorts come in contact with Peter Kelson (Ben Chaplin), a journalist and noted authority on the criminal mind who believes the notion of "evil with a capital E" is absurd. Peter is an agnostic despite being raised by a Catholic priest; his uncle, Father James (Philip Baker Hall), raised Peter after the death of his parents while he was still a child. During their failed exorcism, Birdsong tells Maya that Satan will return to Earth, inhabiting the body of a man in order to reclaim this world. As Maya attempts to unravel the code of who the devil's victim will be, she comes to the awful realization that the most likely candidate is Peter Kelson. Lost Souls marked the directorial debut of cinematographer Janusz Kaminski, whose camera credits include Saving Private Ryan, Schindler's List, and Jerry Maguire. ~ Mark Deming, Rovi

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Rating, Runtime: R, 1 hr. 43 min.
Directed By: Janusz Kaminski
Written By: Pierce Gardner
Genres: Drama, Horror, Mystery & Suspense

In Theaters: Oct 13, 2000 Wide
On DVD: Jun 1, 2004
Studio: New Line Cinema

Critic Reviews

Jonathan Rosenbaum, Chicago Reader
Alas, look is everything here and storytelling and characters are next to nothing, so what emerges is oddly ineffectual and uninvolving -- visually striking set pieces set loose in a void.
Rick Groen, Globe and Mail
[An] unholy mess of a flick.
Peter Travers, Rolling Stone
With the original Exorcist back at the multiplex, you don't need this pale copy.
Eleanor Ringel Gillespie, Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Odd camera angles, artfully dim lighting and showy tracking shots simply don't make up for suspense or intelligence.
Jay Carr, Boston Globe
Kaminski brings all the visual oomph one could ask for, but not enough narrative spine, momentum, or substance.
Joe Baltake, Sacramento Bee
It's a film whose aura can only be described as 'tortured.' That word also approximates the feeling one gets while trying to sit through it.
M. Faust, Common Sense Media
Teenage horror fans can do much better.
Jim Lane, Sacramento News & Review
The anticlimactic, is-that-all-there-is ending winds everything up not with a bang, but a whimper.
Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com
Mood alone cannot energize this slow, simplistic, and anticlimactic Exorcist pretender.
Frank Swietek, One Guy's Opinion
An absolutely terrible movie, sloppily constructed and poorly executed.
Nigel Floyd, Time Out
The tedious storytelling sucks the life and soul out of the characters far more effectively than Satan ever manages.
Philip Martin, Arkansas Democrat-Gazette
Ryder seems serious enough, but there's no real evidence that she's even trying to act...
Eugene Novikov, Film Blather
The result is well-photographed but frighteningly incoherent.
Jeanne Aufmuth, Palo Alto Weekly
There's a good reason this lackluster fright-fest sat on the shelf for two years. It's nothing more than a tired Winona Ryder vehicle taking advantage of the topic du jour -- demonic possession.
John R. McEwen, Film Quips Online
Even a cameo by John Hurt fails to make this film worthwhile.
Ron Wells, Film Threat
Just wall-to-wall goofiness.
Margaret A. McGurk, Cincinnati Enquirer
An engaging, stylish and satisfying film.
Cathy Thompson-Georges, Boxoffice Magazine
It's still a little smarter and a little more interesting than most entries in the antichrist genre and packs more than one satisfying scare.
Rich Cline, Shadows on the Wall
Does anyone really think they have an original satanic thriller up their sleeve?
Jeremiah Kipp, Flipside Movie Emporium
Think of the air going out of a balloon.

Read all 20 critic reviews

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Featured Audience Ratings

Dean M

This unholy spawn of <i>The Exorcist</i> out of <i>Rosemary's Baby</i> is dreary going indeed, even when it becomes unintentionally hilarious.
Jason S

End of the world flick about tracking down the anti christ. Interesting ending but a weak movie.
Dann M

Lost Souls is a dark and suspenseful thriller that explores the battle between spiritual forces. The story follows an exorcist who attempts to save a man who has been mark to be Satan's vessel, so that he can take human form. Winona Ryder and Ben Chaplin lead the cast and give… More
Lost Souls is a dark and suspenseful thriller that explores the battle between spiritual forces. The story follows an exorcist who attempts to save a man who has been mark to be Satan's vessel, so that he can take human form. Winona Ryder and Ben Chaplin lead the cast and give solid performances. The film is very stylized and atmospheric, which helps it to maintain an air of suspense and a sense of foreboding. And while the material is fairly derivative, it does have some dark turns and twists that give the story some additional intrigue and edginess. Though it does have flaws, Lost Souls is a hauntingly chilling supernatural thriller.
Jacob P

A pretty interesting film. Not the greatest flick out there, but still a little entertaining with a few scares.
Doctor S

More grounded than most possession/end-of-the-world movies. Put another way, more 'Rosemary's Baby' than 'The Exorcist' which is the smarter, more interesting path. Intriguing enough to pull me along and well acted by the leads, smoky-eyed Winona Ryder and… More
More grounded than most possession/end-of-the-world movies. Put another way, more 'Rosemary's Baby' than 'The Exorcist' which is the smarter, more interesting path. Intriguing enough to pull me along and well acted by the leads, smoky-eyed Winona Ryder and earnest Ben Chaplin. However the transitions from scene to scene are downright poor, here are a few examples: A man pursuing the protags is transforming into a beast in an empty house. Cut to: Protags running down the street. Ryder says Chaplin will become Satan incarnate on his 33rd birthday unless they can find a solution. With wide-eyed horror, Chaplin reveals that his birthday is tomorrow. Cut to: the pair of them leisurely sharing a coffee and cigarette on a terrace. WTF?!?!? Protags are beset upon by a hundred parishioners, Chaplin shoots two. Cut to: Protags running down the street. It's as if the screenwriter couldn't figure out how to extricate the heroes from sticky situations, so he simply excused himself from the task! Afraid that won't cut it, mate. Fittingly, the movie ends on an anticlimactic beat too: I was left there thinking, "That's it? That's the best resolution you came up with?" Possession movies are usually hokey yawners, but at least 'Lost Souls' tried putting some style into the proceedings.
Nicky M

Couldn't get into this movie. I was bored.
Leo L

Good.