In order to generate a feeling of fear in the viewer, a movie has to be to a certain extent believable. Too much incredibility in the premise will usually make a movie campy, laughable and/or just plain bad. Take, for instance, zombie movies. Only little kids will believe dead people to be able to rise up from their graves, move around sluggishly, and somehow be able to catch the living in order to eat them alive. Therefore, nobody takes zombie movies seriously. What about supernatural spirit movies? Although scarcely acceptable scientifically, many people tend to have a fascination for the unseen spirit world; it triggers the imagination. Well-made spirit movies can therefore be pretty scary. Alien movies have a similar 'credibility level'.
What about 'Lost Souls' then? Apart from the amateurish camera work, the badly worked out character development and the hasty pace of it all, the premise just doesn't work. It doesn't make you scared or horrified. Speaking for myself that is, but I'm sure I'm speaking for most of you as well (haven't read other comments yet). Who (the hell) believes Satan will manifest itself in an ordinary man on his 33rd birthday somewhere in contemporary USA? Not many and therefore this movie fails to scare. Sure, it's got its moments of shock, like the next-door neighbor hearing the exorcism tape, the toppling down of the Jesus statue and the scene of Maya alone in the public bathroom. But these scenes are shocking because of a clever use of sound, FX and acting skills. Such scenes are far and in-between though...
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