6 Souls (2013)

Shelter (6 Souls): Forensic Psychiatrist Cara Harding (Julianne Moore) doesn't believe in Multiple Personality Disorder but her father (Jeffrey Munn), also a psychiatrist, tries to shake up her thinking by introducing her to Adam (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) who is also David and Wesley. Apparently some of his physical abilities and characteristics change with his personalities.Not just a tale of a disturbed patient, this film also brings in serial killing, Appalachian Folk Magic and a curse. Good Folk Horror but with perhaps a few too many forced shocks. At 112 minutes it would have benefited from a 15 minutes cut in it's running time. Convincing acting by Moore and Meyers. 6.5/10.

From the beginning, this movie can't decide what it is. A psychological thriller? A supernatural horror movie? Something else? I have no problem with a film that spans genres, or ever creates a new genre, but this film seems to fall into a narrow crack between genres.The story seems to be a hodgepodge of elements of other movies, including Soultaker (1990), The Green Mile (1999), and Fallen (1998). At just about every critical point in the film, my wife and/or I could predict the next event, or at least narrow it down to two possibilities. Very few surprises or original ideas.Julianne Moore's acting is palatable if not inspiring. Jonathan Rhys Meyers' acting is forced and cliché' and he comes across as a budget Jim Caviezel or an improved Eric Roberts.Also, so the movie makes a few references to "Night of the Living Dead," thus violating MST3K's Tom Servo's precept "Man, never show a good movie in the middle of your crappy movie." If it weren't so well filmed, with some great shots and scenery, I would have given this movie one star.

This film held a lot of promise. Julianne Moore and Jonathan Rhys Meyers give compelling performances during the first hour. It is the story that goes off the rails. I believe that horror/possession films make an implied contract with the audience that they will understand the premise and reason for the story by the end. Instead, what begins as a great idea of multiple personalities, turns toward Appalachian magic, with no real explanation beyond telling us that around World War I, a preacher told the local folk to turn their faith from the local belief system and science and trust in him to protect them against an outbreak of influenza. He secretly has his children immunized. Flu vaccines were not available until 1938 courtesy of Jonas Salk. The locals murder him and his children, the local witch pulls his soul out of is body.So then we learn that the man with multiple personalities, is really the preacher, and that he is going around first cursing his victims to die from an influenza like cough, and a strange rash on their backs before stealing their souls by sucking them out of their bodies. The multiple personalities are then the stolen souls manifesting in the preacher's body. In no way does the film (edited for Television) explain how the preacher's body is still running around murdering people. Julianne Moore's character's reactions are flat when faced with her father's death, the death of her brother, and finally her daughter. By the end of the movie, we are supposed to be scared by the final scene (reminiscent of The Omen) but instead we are left wondering how did the story evolve into this thread, and feeling cheated and led on a wild goose chase for the last 112 minutes. The first part of the movie is so well done, it makes me want to find the script and then salvage the ending. Finally, the movie was originally released in the UK under the name "The Sheltering", but though the term is used in the second half of the movie associated with the soul-stealing, it is never really defined.

Just a word of warning...When ANY movie reviewer even comes remotely CLOSE to saying ANYTHING about how 'Hours of their {oh so precious} life were wasted or lost...', immediately discount their review. Because if they have so little imagination that they have to fall back on that HORRIBLY overworn cliché, then NOTHING they have to say is worth reading. Also, they should be taken out, dismembered, tortured, killed, and then tortured some more.Just one of my warm, fuzzy little thoughts ...Now, to the film...Okay, first and foremost, let me put my pants on (it just NEVER gets old, does it... :) Not to go into too much detail or enter Spoiler territory, but this film definitely has Supernatural overtones. So... IF you can get into films like that and if you have an imagination that can easily suspend disbelief, then you should enjoy the movie. However, if you are one of these new generation 'Realists' who like their Horror ULTRA-Realistic and brutal, then that would be a definite 'NO'.What I really enjoyed about the film was the way the mood was set from the very beginning. The cinematography was also quite beautiful. Two factors which I personally consider to be very important, especially if there are any Fantasy or Supernatural elements. I think where the directors POSSIBLY could have done better was the interaction between the characters. Nothing horrible mind you, I've seen a lot worse. But, some of the timing and reactions perhaps could have been a bit sharper. To me it seemed that the further along in the story you get, the more the film really starts to grab you and pull you in, just by the sheer Mystery of the story. I especially liked the first 20 minutes or so, before you quite know what's going on. It felt a little like 'SESSION 9', which I consider to be one of THE greatest Horror films of all time and is one of my personal favourites. This film created a similar mood or feeling of vague unease. But, later as the story progresses, it becomes a bit more conventional in tone.The suspense and tension are done very well, and the overall pacing I felt was appropriate to the story. I do not personally get all that excited by Julianne Moore; not that she is a bad actress at all, just my own personal preference. But again, I feel that if her performance is diminished at all in this film, this might very well lie at the feet of the directors in this case, as I mentioned earlier.As a completely irrelevant side point, if I may... My breath was TOTALLY taken away when later in the film a young girl was introduced. Her HAIR was stunningly beautiful! WOW! It's just that in Hollywood these days (and sadly for the last several years it seems) you NEVER see a woman / girl with truly GORGEOUS, REAL hair like that! That was SO awesome! I get SO bloody weary of looking at these Hollywood women whose hair generally looks like they were pulled out of a cow's damp @ss. But this little Lady's hair was absolutely lovely. Anyway, like I said, not terribly relevant, but dude I was in LOVE... :)So, bottom line, if you can get into films with an otherworldly tone or feel, and you are not a hard-headed 'Realist', then you should find this movie pretty entertaining. Not to give anything away, and this is just my personal preference; many Horror films end in a very similar fashion. So many, that you almost come to expect a certain kind of ending. And, this one isn't terribly different. But honestly in this particular case, especially with specifically all that the main character has lost / gone through, I feel that perhaps a little less of a typical ending would have been refreshingly nice. Just my lowly and wretched opinion...(FWIW... I felt that 'SAMIAM3' from Canada wrote an excellent review if you want to check it out)