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French filmmakers Julien Maury and Alexandre Bustillo, the duo behind Inside, Leatherface, and The Deep House, step outside of horror ever so slightly for their latest, The Soul Eater. The adaptation of Alexis Laipsker‘s novel, penned by Annelyse Batrel and Ludovic Lefebvre, dabbles in the supernatural to lend atmosphere and intrigue to a standard investigative thriller. While its procedural elements may feel more rote, at least in an era inundated by crime thrillers, Maury and Bustillo pull from their horror toolkit and plunge into dark subject matter with aplomb.
Nestled in the French mountains is Roquenoir, a sleepy village on the cusp of becoming a full-blown ghost town. Just when it’s on the brink of being forgotten, a grisly murder so ruthless and inexplicable draws the attention of authorities beyond Roquenoir. Commander Elisabeth Guardiano (Virginie Ledoyen) arrives in town on assignment to investigate the murder, coinciding with Captain of the Gendarmerie Franck De Rolan (Paul Hamy), who shows up certain that this murder may be linked to a series of child disappearances that he’s probing. The two separate cases may indeed be connected, though, especially when the folkloric Soul Eater enters the equation.
The inciting murder that draws the outsiders to the hollowed-out shell of a town bears the earmarks of Maury and Bustillo’s work; it’s appropriately gnarly. Even the characters are shocked by the extent of the arterial spray and damage inflicted by the married couple who stabbed each other to death, raising numerous questions that send Guardiano and De Rolan on parallel paths of collecting clues. From here, the filmmakers settle into a steady, quiet pace, following along a conventional investigative journey. Maury and Bustillo never guide the viewers through the red herrings and clues that their lead characters are uncovering, instead allowing Guardiano, De Rolan, and the audience by proxy to make connections from all the information and details.
Ledoyen’s Guardiano is an archetypical detective with keen instincts, the type whose steely exterior and guarded walls make her a savvy investigator who doesn’t trust easily. Ledoyen plays her as appropriately prickly, only rarely giving bare glimpses into her broken heart locked behind her defenses. That Guardiano plays it so stoically means that there’s not much for viewers to grab ahold of beyond the central mystery. Hamy’s De Rolan fares slightly better as the more sympathetic of the two investigators, made all the more intriguing by his violent bursts of anger. But both characters harbor secrets that won’t spill out until the third act, and withholding so much about their interiority and motivations does little to earn rooting interest or add texture to a familiar murder investigation story.
The Soul Eater comes alive and shows its distinct personality in the back half, where Maury and Bustillo lean into their horror background and dive deep into harrowing subject matter. Final confrontations get lethal and bloody, and the production design becomes impressive as the protagonists are focused on stealthing their way through a dilapidated house of horrors, waiting for the boogeyman to jump out from behind various doors. The interpretations for the eponymous Soul Eater add visual interest and a few freak-out moments but don’t expect the supernatural to pervade here. This is an investigative crime thriller that delves into delicate topics of child abuse, and the filmmakers approach it with care without lessening its impact. In other words, The Soul Eater‘s horror is steeped in grisly realism, even if it takes some outlandish steps along the way until it reaches a satisfying, shocking, and suitably bleak finale.
Maury and Bustillo’s first foray outside of horror makes for an interesting experiment. The pair employ restraint for their investigative thriller, letting the mystery take center stage while dialing back a lot of their visceral horror impulses, at least until a third act series of revelations that shakes off all procedural familiarity in favor of something far more gripping and grim.
The Soul Eater screened at Fantasia International Film Festival. Release TBA.