Julien Neaves, Editor
New on digital platforms today is supernatural horror Sweet Taste of Souls from DarkCoast studio. It is directed by Terry Moss and written by Felicity Mudgett. Here is my review with some mild spoilers.
The film tells the story of four amateur band members—Nate, Kyle, Wendy and Lily—on a road trip to their next gig. They stop off at a diner called Elle’s Kountry Kitchen in the sleepy, rural town of Angel Falls. There they meet the flirty, eccentric owner Ellinore (Honey Lauren) and leave with her “famous” cherry pie.
The pit stop turns out to be a fateful one as they later find themselves trapped in a picture as part of Ellinore’s macabre art gallery and contending with an evil force that feeds on pain and suffering.
One of my favourite shows of all time is The Twilight Zone, and I will argue that it is one of the best Sci Fi shows of all time. And the greatest compliment I can give Sweet Taste of Souls is that it reminds me of a Twilight Zone episode, though less refined. For example, I am still unclear about the connection between the pies and the capturing of people. In these kinds of films it is really best to keep things simple. That aside, the prospect of being frozen in time and completely helpless is a terrifying one, and even more so than someone chasing you with a meat cleaver. Now the film does feature Elle brandishing said cleaver, which throws a welcome slasher tone into the supernatural mix.
Lauren’s over-the-top portrayal of Elle is easily the highlight of the film and her bizarre, crazy antics were entertaining throughout. I also liked that they made an effort to humanise the character. I mean, she’s a monster, but you understand how she became one.
The other performances are decent enough and I thought Amber Gaston gave us a very believable character in the down-to-earth Wendy. The special effects were okay and about what you would expect for a film of this budget. The plot could have done with a bit of tweaking but it is solid enough, and did deliver at least one twist that I did not see coming. There is also one particular scene that was so simple and yet so disturbing, and I dug that. And there is an effort to have a deeper meaning to the murder and mayhem which nudges the film just above your standard horror movie rental fare.
So like a piece of store-bought cherry pie Sweet Taste of Souls will not be the best slice of horror you ever had, but it will fill a spot. And sometimes that’s all you need.
Julien’s Score: 5.5 out of 10
You can check out Sweet Taste of Souls for yourself on Amazon, InDemand, DirecTV, AT&T, FlixFling, Vudu and Fandango.
For my review of supernatural horror Truth or Dare you can click here. And to check out our selection of more than 100 horror film reviews and lists you can click here.
Julien “Jules” Neaves is a TARDIS-flying, Force-using Trekkie whose bedroom stories were by Freddy Krueger, learned to be a superhero from Marvel, but dreams of being Batman. I love promoting Caribbean film (Cariwood), creating board games and I am an aspiring author. I say things like “12 flavours of awesome sauce”.
I can also be found posting on Instagram as redmanwriter. And for more about me you can check out my full bio here.