SOUL MATES movie poster | ©2023 NFaith Media Distribution/Imani Media Group

Rating: R
Stars: Annie Ilonzeh, Charlie Weber, Neal McDonough
Writers: Chris Lamont & Joseph L. Russo, based on a short story by Frankie Mendoza, Gunnar Baroldy, JJ Chalupnik
Director: Mark Gantt
Distributor: Faith Media Distribution/Imani Media Group
Release Date: October 20, 2023 (theatrical); December 1, 2023 (digital)

SOUL MATES is reminiscent of SAW and ESCAPE ROOM, plus a couple of other thrillers that shouldn’t be named for fear of giving the plot away.

Allison (Annie Ilonzeh) wakes up in a strange bed, vomiting – and finds she is handcuffed to an unconscious man next to her. When he returns to consciousness, we learn this is Jason (Charlie Weber). After the initial fear wears off, Jason explains that the last thing he remembers is being jumped by two men; this is what Allison separately recalls as well.

Allison finds a card in the room advertising a dating service called Soul Mates. The card comes with a key that opens the door, depositing the still-handcuffed pair into a hallway in a maze.

Guided alternately by written messages and the smarmy, peppy Matchmaker (Neal McDonough), who pops up on monitors from room to room, Allison and Jason have to survive what in other circumstances might be things people try on a first date – karaoke and so on. However, their performance is tied to the fates of other people, some of whom they know.

The point of all this, the Matchmaker insists, is to prove to Allison and Jason that they are meant for each other – “soul mates.” What’s really going on here?

The screenplay by Chris Lamont & Joseph L. Russo, based on a short story by Frankie Mendoza, Gunnar Baroldy, and JJ Chalupnik, successfully keeps us guessing for a good while. In the final stretch, logic combined with running time suggests the correct answer before it’s actually provided, but by then we’ve become genuinely invested in the characters.

This last is of greater importance in what is essentially a two-hander, versus a horror movie with a larger pool of potential victims. Ilonzeh and Weber convey sincerity and decency, and Allison and Jason are written with enough quirks and can-do spirit for us to stay engaged with them. As for McDonough, he’s so good at playing people who enjoy being awful that we wouldn’t put anything whatever past his Matchmaker.

Director Mark Gantt stages the sequences shrewdly, for maximum effect, and keeps the pace propulsive. He also provides a sense of scope and possibility on what looks like it was a tight budget. Gore isn’t pervasive, but it’s punchy when it happens.

The best test of whether a horror film succeeds is whether the experience of watching it has more satisfactions than just parsing clues and kills. SOUL MATES measures up. It’s the sort of movie to recommend to the kind of friends who you know will like it.

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