2 Horror 2 Extravaganza: 8

Sway: Working class frame rate two horror two extravaganza, baby. And this week too is African horror. Our second movie of the week for two horror, two extravaganza, African horror is 8 2019 by director Harald Holscher. AKA the Soul Collector. AKA the Soul Collector. That's how you can find it on Tubi, the Soul Collector. Synopsis. Fear the legend, an old man fated to collect souls for eternity. Seeks atonement after trading his daughter's soul. You know, when this started off, I was like fully hooked. I can't lie. And and I I do I do really love the premise of this movie. I think it's actually a very beautiful and interesting movie. ⁓ it is very interesting to use like these white Africans as like the Yeah, it's a very strange Well here. ⁓ let me say this. First off, I ⁓ 'cause I have to preface the version I watched had very spotty subtitling with some of the sequences where they're speaking their indigenous tongue. So I have to just say that up front that there are moments or two where like the dialogue being transmitted, I had to like sort of infer through their emotions. Okay. So I just want to be fair to this film. But yes, I think this film starts off very, very strong. Dude, swear to God, it's like an evil dead trap situation. Hits that hour mark, I just I think it falls apart. Granted, I didn't leave this movie with disdain like vitriol, you know? Yeah. But I I just felt like the conclusion, I was like, mm-hmm. With the exception of one scene where he's in this like purgatory realm and the save that let's save the best scene for for the for a conversation. Because I think eight ⁓ presents a lot of really cool story for cool opportunities in the film. And the opening sequence I found to be so cool, so interesting. That visual skin bag is so cool. It like his entire getup, his character is such an interesting and beautiful character, especially because We get to see that he lost his daughter in the fire and he makes a deal with the devil to get her back. Unfortunately, that what returns is only a semblance of his daughter and a ravenous beast. It's the devil. And then now he's chained to the responsibility of keeping it satiated. Yeah. And it and he feeds His his demon daughter souls. With like this really cool he like the soul comes out of your mouth like a moth and he feeds it. It's it's so incredible. I mean the opening sequence with that person, the old person who's dying, and then the the just the aftermath of seeing them laid out with like the black out of their mouth. I mean, it's just so fucking great. Really cool, really classic, like grim fairy tale kind of stuff. Yeah, I I and and I guess this is kind of like where a lot of my grudges kind of lie because his character is so cool. Yeah, we spend too much time of him playing like the slave to this, like the doting old fool kind of. And to give the movie credit, there is a bit of a manipulation going on. For sure. He's trying to get the daughter. So it's like I recognize as to be fair completely to the movie, there is a plan for that. I also just think on top of that, the family's just not as interesting as like him. I almost would have preferred like a situation where it's just kind of like him wanting. Like if you just follow his story. Yeah. And his name is Shamano Sebe. And I'm gonna make sure that I'm ⁓ pronouncing that right because I know his name starts with a t with a T. Fucking incredible. Like he's incredible. Like this is why I agree with you. He definitely should have played the entire movie. We should have only seen his story because it was very ⁓ compelling. ⁓ don't know why we had to get that family in there, other than the fact that he was like trying to use the daughter. Like that was a bad idea. I think their story's not completely uninteresting. 'Cause like think about it, like him inheriting this farm, South Africa, apartheid, like you could have explored that idea of like a white man getting this farm and having to reckon with like the past of it. You know what I mean? That's where I thought it was going and I was like, ⁓ because like with the soul collectors, even when he showed up to the village and everyone was like, Yo, you're asking too many questions. Yeah, and he started freaking out on him. I was like, ⁓ okay, this is interesting. Yeah. But they just once again, it just I don't know, I it threads so much intrigue that you sort of become ⁓ intoxicated with it. I was like, really I and especially great music and like every scene with like the daughter and the VFX work on the zombie girl, phenomenal work. Yeah. And I just wish it crescendoed into something more satisfactory. I I fully agree. I think that there is ⁓ there's a lot of cool shots in here. Beautiful. A lot of great use of fog, the way that he stands in the field. There's just a lot of there's a lot of good ⁓ and those makeup effects, dude. That the daughter's eyes not a good shot. Dude, there's a shot. Where she's crawling through the room and you only see her blue eyes and just the shadow figure, nightmarish. This that was nightmare fuel. Yeah, there I think I think what happens n after like the halfway mark or a little bit into forty five minutes, the movie starts turning into a very generic horror film, as opposed to the very interesting things that are going on with the villain here, right? Who who we know is conflicted because he's carrying around the weight of his dead daughter. Who he has to satiate and he has started to get attached with the little girl and you know, the the family could have been completely wrapped, but either way, I was I was really invested into his story. Also a little girl's story, like just her parents died. Like that could have been well and I there's that great line near the end of the film where they're in this really cool well. Which great. By the way, I think that the last thirty minutes to yeah, last forty, thirty minutes are are pretty generic, pretty bland as it gets. But that last scene, the last couple of scenes where they're they're resting in this sort of purgatory. Yeah, and it's like empty space. The sky's pink and it's so cool. And the dialogue is great. What is that line where he's just like he's like, I hope the the rocks have sympathy for an old man, you know what I mean? Yeah. Like and just that longing and like the way that it's just kind of endless and vast. It it it hits like a train. Yeah. It's great. And it just makes me wish like The rest of the movie kind of contained that frequency, you know? Yeah, 100%. Well, and especially 'cause like the problem is too is that like this is also one of the few films all the films are an hour thirty. Yeah. This is one of the few where I was like, I kind of wouldn't have minded a like a two hour thirty slow, methodical kind of horror film. You know what I mean? Like even if it were to go to two hours, I don't even think. Yeah, like just really let me just make a twenty minutes him fight. Well, especially like with him fighting, 'cause maybe he does like ⁓ start to care about the little girl. He's ⁓ you what? Maybe like I have to let go of my daughter. You know what I mean? Like you could have explored all that. Yeah. I fully agree. I I I was looked a little bit weirded out by the ending. I don't know what you took away by the ending. ⁓ about what's specifically about the ending. Because you know, the the mom is now pregnant and I honestly that just kind of felt like some generic franchise bullshit. Like like Loki, that felt like the Blumhouse moment where it was like ⁓ like Insidious Two, like Patrick Wilson has the demon in him now. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. And and like and and I don't know the production history of this film and who was funding it or whatever, but like I definitely think like there was something going on where like it feels like there's an art like an artist's vision fighting something production-wise, where it's like I maybe there's a a producer or something telling him like, hey no, we need to market it to like Western audiences, you know, do this, do that, you know. Yeah, and I mean it it would make sense with the very generic ending with the The whole fight with the monster and just ⁓ and then the happen then like the tribe and also by the way, it does this weird thing I've noticed where like it's talking about racism, but it also kind of like uses indigenous symbolism in a way that was a little weird. I'm like, why are they all just like have huts and like spears? I'm like I mean, granted, I know that's their culture, but I'm like they had a house earlier. Like I saw them in a house earlier, you know what I Yeah, yeah, yeah. I was like, they're not just like hanging out outside. Well, I'm looking it up right now. Harold Holcher Is actually a white South African. Yeah. So there could definitely be some of that playing a role in here, especially just a little bit of that bias. No, actually a lot of that bias. Yeah. Yeah. White South African here. Yeah. Yeah. So and honestly, I didn't even know that he was a white South African, which would explain. This is the only white South African on the list, right? ⁓ Yeah. ⁓ yeah, 100%. 100%. Yeah. Yeah, it makes sense because that's this is the only film we watched where I was like, this kind of feels lame. Like, and in a way, the other three don't feel lame. 100%. There's a lot of cultural significance that is happening in most of these films. ⁓ Salum. Well the framework and context of black artists making horror films versus a white South African using the legacy of black suffering as a way to make a horror film. Yeah. And then ending it off with the with like a baby and ⁓ and like trying to make it a franchise. Yeah. Like especially with like the subject. It feels fucking weird. It kind of does feel a little exploitative. Yeah. It's like, ooh. And then also that actually knowing that now too, I actually actually this kind of recontextualizes our entire conversation. Recontextualizes the indigenous portion, especially for me. Where I'm like, ⁓ yeah, like what, why? Now it kind of just feels racist. Yeah. Yeah. I don't think I dude, I did not even know I just I just took it. We're we're doing this live. We're doing this live. We're doing it live. Fuck it. We're doing it live. We're doing it live. We're well, and you what? This is actually a great conversation to have though. Cause we and Sway, you know, especially over the past two years, you know, with our current political climate, we've had plenty of discussions about, you know, sort of the colonizers' perspective on certain sufferings versus ⁓ the ⁓ the suffering of the underclass, their perspective of suffering. So in a strange way, I feel like this is kind of the zenith of like our many conversations about this topic. Yeah, and it's it it kind of like puts into question the existence of this movie, other than to obviously talk about, you know, the cultural significance. Feel worse, a little more heinous. There's an extra weight to you now as an artist to present this in a way that's thoroughly fleshed out and intentional. This literally felt like a Bloomhouse movie at point. It's like I was like, no, this is not it. Yeah. And when you started to mention about the stereotypes about the village, it made a lot more sense. It's like a settler, right? ⁓ the unexplored mom. The the aunt too is like kind of racist too, but like they don't it's do that's what I thought too. I was like, I was feeling But it's unexplored. They they kind of flirt with it where she's like, I don't know if I trust Lazarus. That's what I was thinking too. I was like, ⁓ so she's like kind of racist. Cause like what it's could have been interesting. Yeah. Where you could have had the dad who's like, ⁓ like I really like Lazarus. He's a nice guy. And like maybe he has to contend with his family's past and be like, Yeah, no, like I disagree. That's fucked up. Might have ended bad though if the end result is Lazarus betraying them, you know what I mean? So No, I but you can also have that be a part of the tragedy though, where his circumstances and the conditions they live under, he had a d make a desperate choice. And like you could have you could have played with that in a way which granted I'm and like once again this is also under the context of a white filmmaker. I I'm saying with a relevant filmmaker who has a lived experience with this topic and a better understanding could have made that an interesting ⁓ conflict. And this director s I'm sorry, bro, you were just not up to the task. Like Yeah, I'm gonna be honest at the end. But I'm not saying like I'm amazing. I'm not this is not an elitism thing. Like I don't think I would have done much better, but like it is it but like it's not you, bro. Yeah, and I'm gonna be honest, it compared to the other films that we watched on this list, ⁓ this one definitely falls to the wayside. It's one of the one of the weaker ones for sure. Yeah. And ⁓ 'cause I love the other three, which is funny because the this this might even have probably the bigger budget and I still feel like I think the other films budget. Yeah, the other films got Got a lot done with this. And it's crazy to say that no watching Saloon and what they did with their budget and their neon lighting and everything. Like it's crazy. Yeah. It's it's night and day. And look, we're gonna leave it up to our audience to decide, of course. Like we're And if you liked it, please tell us. I would love to. This is an interesting film because I it's one of those. Like I know I could get interesting debates out of people. One hundred percent. And there's and again, there is really some interesting moments here. It's just such a good premise that I don't feel is explored. Ever that well like even as we're talking about it's just a very generic horror film and barely a horror film at that. And it but it's like a a a generic horror film with like really good qualities, like the FX and the lighting and the music. It's like I think that's what made it worse. An incredible performance too from the and I think the comp the competence and the coherence really made it worse for me because like if it was just bad across the board, I could at least be like, ⁓ fuck it, you like this bullshit. Yeah. But it's actually got parts where I'm like, ⁓ that actually works. That makes it worse because when it doesn't, I'm like, okay, so I know you can do better. Yeah, one hundred percent. Look, eight is available to stream right now on Amazon Prime. That's where you're gonna get the best subtitles. It's on YouTube for free and it's on Tubi. So you guys go ahead and find it. Yeah, go check it out. Give it a spin. Let us know what you think ⁓ down in the comments of our YouTube or Let us know if you guys check it out. We would love to hear our yeah, in person. Tell come up to me and tell me your opinion on eight. Only eight. Let's put eight. Only eight, yeah. That's gonna be our second movie for African horror for two horror. Two extravaganza. This is where you wait.