Writers: Ilanthirayan Alan Arumugam, Charles Benedict and Mukund Ramanan
Director: Ilanthirayan Alan Arumugam
Wrathful of Souls is an Australian entry into the over-stuffed low budget horror market, and while it has a few good things going for it, its weaknesses are far too obvious to allow this to be anything other than destined to be buried in the depths of a streaming service’s catalogue.
Young man Kiran (Kabir Singh) secures a job at a cemetery, cleaning up and maintaining the cremation furnace while trying to get on with his volatile co-worker, deal with his ineffectual boss and cope with some creepy goings-on in and around his workplace. Following a traumatic encounter, Kiran seemingly falls ill but is in fact possessed by a vengeful spirit intent on a murderous spree.
The set-up of the story is a simple one – it’s The Exorcist meets Death Wish with a dash of An American Werewolf in London – and this is a perfect springboard for the classic horror tropes of internal angst and imaginative kills. Unfortunately the unfocussed script takes far too long to get going, with the first 30 minutes being a real slog to get through, and sets up several promising aspects (such as a creepy groundskeeper) only to do absolutely nothing with them. It improves once Kiran is possessed, but by then the obviously talented Singh is lumbered with playing either a sweating, shaking wreck or a growling monster.
The story features numerous flashbacks which are often confusing and sometimes completely irrelevant. There are also several disparate story strands that join up towards the film’s climax but they are handled in such a way as to simply make for a muddled and rather boring first act. The story does come together quite neatly at the end but the destination is not at all worth the journey, and the denouement would probably have been more satisfying if the rest of the film had been a little more engaging.
The cast is multicultural and the film makes nothing of this fact. On one hand that is extremely commendable, but on the other it seems like a missed opportunity to add further conflict into the narrative.
Most of the effects are practical including Kabir’s demonic form, which amounts to red contact lenses and an impressive physical performance from Singh. In fact Singh is the main reason to watch this film (he single-handedly saves this from being a one-star review), although it is difficult to properly judge him against the rest of the cast who deliver universally bad performances. It is hard to work out if the bad acting is because of the terrible dialogue, or if the script just seems bad because of the quality of the performances – it’s probably a combination of the two
Arumugam’s direction is largely competent, with a handful of technically ambitious shots that seem more like showing off than actually servicing the film. However the low budget is constantly apparent and along with the weak dialogue and atrocious acting, the overall impression is of a student film rather than anything even remotely professional.
Bulldog Film Distribution presentsWrath of Souls on VOD 29 May 2023.
The Reviews Hub Score:
Re-Possessed
