What if you took the movie, Saw, and turned it into a silly Valentine’s Day spin-off? You would end up with something like Soul Mates, a film that, despite its theatrical release, embodies the derivative made-to-stream archetype. The film opens on our two protagonists, Jason (Charlie Weber) and Allison (Annie Ilonzeh), who wake up in bed handcuffed to each other. They arise and wander around their maze-like surroundings unsure of where they are and what’s going on. But a video recording featuring The Matchmaker, played by Neal McDonough, explains that the two have been romantically paired up in this surreal IRL dating game and must play along…or else. Jason and Allison are, for some reason, pretty understanding of their situation. They don’t question the bizarre ridiculousness of their new reality and quickly get on board with participating in the game. But unlike the protagonists, the audience isn’t able to suspend their disbelief and realizes pretty quickly that the script is both stale and over the top.
The couple soon arrives at the first stage of the matchmaking game, the Soul Mates version of the Newlywed Game with a sick twist – each incorrect answer causes some stranger to get lowered into a meat grinder. As the first real action of the film, the scene doesn’t do a great job of scaring the audience. Nobody cares about this random guy and the visual effects aren’t very realistic. But those points aside, the viewer realizes here how nonsensical the script really is. It seems that the game is supposed to start with easy questions, which get progressively harder. However, the couple has barely spoken to one another, which should make nearly any question impossible. But for some reason, guessing the car that Jason drives (obviously the rich guy drives a red Ferrari) is easier than guessing his net worth or the amount of people Allison has slept with? And it turns out that “office worker” is an acceptable answer to guessing Allison’s job. It’s hard to ignore the questionable validity of the game, even when considering it’s being run by a sadist.
At the next stage, the audience may be left wondering whether this is actually a horror-comedy, as the absurdity of what’s unfolding becomes too much to accept. In one scene, we watch a blood-covered Allison singing a karaoke version of “In the Air Tonight”. And the lyrics are projected onto a live feed of her grandmother with a laser dot superimposed on her forehead. It’s such a ridiculous visual that all you can do is laugh. The stages of the game continue with similar plot points of do this weird thing or else something bad will happen. But despite the silliness of the script, the film largely fails because it feels so derivative. The cat and mouse genre already feels tired, and the application in a horror movie is especially familiar. Specifically, this feels like a Saw ripoff with a touch of Squid Game – just because it has a dating theme, the film doesn’t feel particularly unique. At points it seems that Gantt may be trying to comment on modern (online) dating, but if so, it’s unclear what his critique is. There are mentions of burying your past relationships and going through a dating routine consisting of dinner, a movie, and casual sex, but these callouts are very superficial.
On the positive side, the film feels pretty tight and the pacing is solid. The film opens in media res with our two protagonists waking up in the game. Thanks in part to the film’s 95 minute runtime, Gantt keeps the narrative chugging right along. And the main actors don’t do a bad job – Annie Ilonzeh in particular delivers a solid performance as Allison, while Charlie Weber does a serviceable job, reflective of his background in television and made-for-TV movies. While you can expect a lot of eye rolling, at the very least, you won’t get too bored. Ultimately, the film isn’t terrible, but there’s nothing here to be particularly proud of. Still, they decide to cap it off with an ending that leaves room for a sequel in hopes of some clip going viral. Maybe they will succeed – and if we don’t get an undeserved sequel, you can be sure we’ll get an ‘original’ film similar enough in no time.
Photo courtesy of Faith Media Distribution
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