Instead of trying to be a horror flick loaded with pretty victims (the trend back in 2001), Soulkeeper is a straight up indie supernatural adventure comedy that doesn’t much succeed on any level but still has its charms. Unfortunately, it meanders all over the place and doesn’t exploit its prized possession—a huge horned demon. It’s this guy, only attached to a body.
The movie is about a pair of cute thieves who get drawn into a supernatural scheme when they try to steal a special “rock” for Brad Dourif. Aside from Chucky, cameos by familiar horror faces include Robert Davi of the Maniac Cop movies, Jack Donner of the Puppet Master series, and Karen Black who, in a comic turn as a fortuneteller, delivers the movie’s funniest segment.
Soulkeeper is an “everything but the kitchen sink” mess. Abraham Lincoln dress up and Civil War reenactment. Grave robbing. A lesbian bar. Monster attacks. Fart humor. A bat attack. Gay hustlers. Possession. A castle. A black and white dimension. A suiting up montage…that pokes fun at montages. And finally, a big fierce boss beast.
It has its moments, but there just aren’t enough of them. Pop culture references abound, including Wang Chung, Debbie Gibson, The Backstreet Boys, The Crying Game, and Judas Priest. The boys are cute plus funny when the script gives them the opportunity, and one gets shirtless. But most importantly, the gay hustler lives!
The biggest downfall is that Soulkeeper doesn’t try much to be scary—which is okay if you look at it as an adventure comedy, which is really what it is. But I refuse to accept that! The few jumps come thanks to the demonic beast pursuing them. He’s such a great movie monster but is totally underutilized and gets lost in the endlessly chaotic plot. He’s my favorite part of the movie…along with Karen Black, all the pop culture references, one guy getting shirtless, and the gay hustler.
While one of the main guys is the shirtless dude above, the other one is really better known (yet not known at all) as this guy….
