Horror Movie Review: The Soul Eater (2024)

Fair warning, dear reader and potential viewer of this film, The Soul Eater will leave you feeling very glum. An experience, from beginning to end, that can be summed up as miserable and uncomfortable. Seemingly offering up something monstrous and supernatural, and pulling the rug out in a way that will stay with you long afterwards, for better or worse.

The Soul Eater (Le Mangeur D’âmes) is a French horror directed by Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury, with a story written by Annelyse Batrel, Ludovic Lefebvre, and Alexis Laipsker. It stars Virginie Ledoyen as Elizabeth Guardiano, investigating a horrific murder/suicide that has details that might make you squirm. From the start, The Soul Eater tells you that you’re in for a one hell of an experience.

Her investigation sees her linking up with detective Franck de Rolan (Paul Hamy) who is in town following his own investigation, one related to missing children. While neither case initially seems to be linked, as more details come in, it does seem as though there might a thread worth pulling on. Which is what Franck does, and as much as she is told to say out of it by her superiors, so does Elizabeth.

Just what is the Soul Eater, why are some children so obsessed with it, and why are some adults killing themselves, and others, in horrific acts of violence?

All these questions, and more will be answered by the end, but you won’t like a lot of them. This is a bleak film, one that can be defined as ugly and harsh. While no disrespect is meant by such a statement, it does bear true. The characters are all written to be unlikable in their own way, revealing their own traumatic experiences as the film goes on, but being dictated by them. This does make it hard to root for anyone, but the way the story is told, you’re not really supposed to.

What the story does is allow you to do is understand them and their decisions. Come the end, you will ask yourself what you would do if you were in the situation they are. It’s a powerful, and depressing moment, but it is satisfying, and both actors (alongside the likes of Sandrine Bonnaire) do a fantastic job.

The Soul Eater works hard to keep you guessing and no-one will be able to put the entire picture together completely until the end. While that is impressive, what is even more impressive is that all of this is made compelling and, importantly, believable. It does get a little stretched near the end as things become more surreal, but it still works, mainly because you’ll want to see how it plays out.

Just don’t expect to come away feeling good about it.