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Sweet Taste of Souls
USA 2020
produced by Bee Pedersen for Flying Dolphin Productions, WinterGlass Films
directed by Terry Ross
starring Honey Lauren, John Salandria, Mark Valeriano, Amber Gaston, Sarah J. Bartholomew, Thom Michael Mulligan, Frank Papia, Jesse LeNoir, Darn Oldham, Scott Alin, Lonny Curtis, Mark Allyn, Samantha Larson, Tess Dunlap, Jesse Turner, Daniel Quezada, Monique Famisan, Will Fletcher, Lolly Boroff, Tyler Bruhn, Arkady Unterleidner, Brandon Marinas, Danielle Kaufman, Carl Ling, Carla Terrazas, Robert Chapman, Bryan Keith Davis, Dominick Nunes, Bruce Welnack, Thomas Peterson, Bee Pedersen, Laura Fowles, Chris Fowles, Dawna Lee Heising, Dave Frank Downes (voice), Cato Zane (voice), Charlotte Fitchy, Jaqueline Barone, Jade Harper, Kau Vang, Tabatha Lister
written by F. Scott Mudgett, music by Dennis Poore
review by Mike Haberfelner
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Nate (John Salandria), Kyle (Mark Valeriano), Wendy (Amber Gaston) and
Lily (Sarah J. Bartholomew) are in a band and on their way to their
"big" gig through the backroads of rural USA - and the strain of
the trip is putting a strain on them already. Eventually they pass by
Ellie's (Honey Lauren) pie shop and decide to - well, stop for some pies.
And Ellie's quick to freak them out for sure. As are the framed photos on
the walls somewhat eerie - and when Nate tries to inspect one and
accidently drops it, Ellie loses it and throws them out. Nate swears he
saw the characters in the photo move, but of course the others don't
believe him - until they disappear into thin air one by one, and re-appear
in a photo on Ellie's wall, a photo they despite their best efforts seem
to be unable to escape. They now discover that all the characters in the
other photos on the wall are trapped living humans as well, some being
trapped for 20 or so years now ... But how come? Seems when Ellie killed
her abusive husband (Scott Alin) back when she somehow mustered up enough
hatred to be entered by some kind of demon that gave her the ability to
capture everything she has captured in a photo for real - which has lead
to quite some disappearances over the last several years - disappearances
that have triggered the interest of Sid (Frank Papia), whose own daughter
is among the missing, and Barney (Thom Michael Mulligan), and their
investigations have led them to Ellie's pie shop, where Barney soon gets a
job as mop boy - while of course, he has no idea that all those who have
disappeared are actually held captive in photos ... Mop boy Barney gives
our heroes new hope, as he's clearly not in league with Ellie and clearly
snooping around, but their means to communicate with him are rather
limited as by design they freeze every tie someone enters the room.
However the hope is squashed soon when Barney's brutally killed by Ellie.
What's worse though, Ellie falls into a depression and desides to destroy
all her pictures, and their content with them, so an escape plan becomes
imperative ... Sweet Taste of Souls is a horror movie
that puts surrealism back into the genre, and boldly and proudly so: Sure,
by rational terms the premise of the film doesn't make any sense, and it's
never really explained away, but somehow the film manages to create its
own world with its own rules, and in today's general, overrationalized and
streamlined take on the genre, this approach is really a breath of fresh
air, especially since the thing is directed very beautifully and has a
very homogenous feel to it. And while the film surely has its hints of
irony, the actors, while in on the joke, play it straight and give solid
performances throughout, all resulting in one of the weirder entries into
horror - and for that all the more appealing.
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