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Lost Souls
New Line Cinema


5.0

based on 29 reviews
Read critic reviews
How did we calculate this?

based on 7 votes
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MPAA RATING: R for violence/terror and some language

Starring Winona Ryder, Ben Chaplin, and John Hurt

Maya (Ryder) is a young girl who belongs to a group of exorcists and discovers a conspiracy that would lead to the unleashing of Satan on Earth. At the center of the problem is best-selling true-crime writer Kelson (Chaplin).

GENRE(S):	Suspense/Thriller
WRITTEN BY:	Pierce Gardner (also story) Betsy Stahl (story)
DIRECTED BY:	Janusz Kaminski
RELEASE DATE:	DVD: February 27, 2001 Video: February 27, 2001 Theatrical: October 13, 2000
RUNNING TIME:	97 minutes, Color
ORIGIN:	USA

All critic scores are converted to a 100-point scale. If a critic does not indicate a score, we assign a score based on the general impression given by the text of the review. Learn more...

Baltimore Sun Chris Kaltenbach

A grade-B rumination on what a nasty guy the devil can be.

Chicago Sun-Times Roger Ebert

Possesses the art and craft of a good movie, but not the story.

New York Post Jonathan Foreman

Predictable, rarely scary.

Portland Oregonian Kim Morgan

Fails to be resonant and, more important, scary.

USA Today Susan Wloszczyna

It's a dated effort.

Boston Globe Jay Carr

Full of atmosphere and visuals, it's empty of anything that really matters.

Chicago Tribune John Petrakis

So filled with illogical twists and ridiculous turns, that eventually it evokes unintentional laughs.

Philadelphia Inquirer Steven Rea

Dark and murky, grainy and grim.

Seattle Post-Intelligencer William Arnold

A screaming, silly cliche -- and somehow not a bit scary.

Entertainment Weekly Lisa Schwarzbaum

Silly, undone by lack of faith in its own subject.

LA Weekly Hazel-Dawn Dumpert

While Kaminski understands that movie terror comes in at the eyes, he has little skill for connecting sensation to hearts and minds.

Christian Science Monitor David Sterritt

Preposterous plot, bad acting, and dialogue that provokes more laughs than shivers.

San Francisco Chronicle Carla Meyer

While it's beautifully shot, it's way too slow.

New York Daily News Jack Mathews

His (Kaminski) first feature is so thoroughly awful, it isn't even interesting to look at.

Miami Herald Rene Rodriguez

The most intriguing thing about Lost Souls is how it managed to attract so much talent.

The New York Times A.O. Scott

It's the central story that's lacking.

Washington Post Stephen Hunter

It's a loose reassembly of plot points from "Rosemary's Baby" and "The Exorcist" that never achieves the emotional intensity of either.

Variety Lael Loewenstein

The hallucination sequences are among the pic's creepiest.

TV Guide Maitland McDonagh

Muddled tale of demonic hijinks and devil worship. It's terrible.

Los Angeles Times Kevin Thomas

A dreary tale of supernatural horror.

Salon.com Andrew O'Hehir

A lugubrious sub-"Exorcist" demonic possession film that's absolutely no fun at all.

Washington Post Desson Thomson

A pretty dreary affair to sit through. It's not even scary.

Village Voice Jessica Winter

Can be blamed foremost on its fire-and-brimstone screenwriter, Pierce Gardner.

Film.com Gemma Files

An almost total waste of time.

Chicago Reader Jonathan Rosenbaum

What emerges is oddly ineffectual and uninvolving.

Mr. Showbiz Cody Clark

The only thing about this movie that will haunt you is its boggling ineptitude.

Rolling Stone Peter Travers

If the devil made them all do it, he's one dull bastard.

San Francisco Examiner Wesley Morris

Another "Exorcist" bastard -- one with a chick-flick pedigree.

Austin Chronicle Marc Savlov

Shamelessly dull.

The average user rating for this movie is 5.0 (out of 10) based on 7 User Votes
Note: User votes are NOT included in the Metascore calculation.

Mark J. gave it a0:
The script is awful and full of cliches. Just a boring movie with zero suspense and a plot seen 1000000 times... Avoid!

Luis B. gave it a7:
I enjoyed this movie. It might be because I like supernatural thrillers, but I thought this was pretty well done.

Rob gave it a 1:
I don't know what was worse, the fact that I paid money to see this, or Winona Ryder's charcoal bricket eye-shadow job.

Kapil R. gave it a 1:
No words to tell you about the movie.

Nick D. gave it a 9:
Great story, very suspenseful.

Maria C. gave it an 8:
Saw it twice: didn't think much of it the first time, but really appreciate and understand it the second time. My advice to viewers: You must know something about narcissistic personality disorder to appreciate this movie. How discouraging it must be for the screenwriters Pierce Gardner and Betsy Stahl to have so many reviewers dismissing the story and just not getting it.

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Lost Souls New Line Cinema

Lost Souls
New Line Cinema