Desperate Souls (2023) User Reviews

An interesting mix of horror and romance

[DarylJGittings · 7/10 · 10 January 2024]

Devin (Joe Rosing) is an unhappy, depressed individual. He contiplates suicide but does not go through with it. Devin visits a psychiatrist on a weekly basis. He also likes to hangout at the bar with his friends Dan (Jake Yanko) and Rebecca (Magdalena Conway). Dan and Rebecca would like to set Devin up with a nice woman.

One night, Devin has a dream about a mysterious and beautiful woman Moira (Angel Bradford). After a couple of dreams he's not quite sure if she's real or just a fantasy. It turns out that Moira is a Succubus. A Succubus feeds off of the grief and sorrow of men.

Devin falls for Moira and she for him. When his friend Rebecca has her suspicions about Moira she decides to ask the local bartender if she remembers her. Moira claims that she and Devin met at the bar. This is where the trouble begins. Moira wants to keep her secret from Devin and Rebecca wants to protect her friend. This causes multiple deaths before Moira tells Devin the truth and decides that they cannot be together. In order for them to be together, Moira most feed off of Devin.

So, Desperate Souls is a horror movie with some romance. It's a unique film. It's worth checking out.

Succubus Success !

[beka-990-967217 · 7/10 · 4 July 2023]

While I had issues with several too dark lighting and cinematography choices in this flick....the overall storyline was great for someone like me who is a bit squeamish with her horror genre. The unlikely romance of a Succubus and a Depressed Soul really worked! I loved that the ending was not predictable with a tiny twist...which I won't spoil here ! I found the acting chemistry between Angel Bradford and Joe Rosing was so genuine with the last scene of them together towards the end of the film very moving!!! When the lighting was great to see the full Succubus look...I feel there should be an award for this costume design! The score throughout really set the tone perfectly! Besides the romance story, if it's blood and gore you want...don't worry there is plenty of that too! :D.

A well written succubus love / psychological thriller film.

[indiecritical · 7/10 · 12 June 2023]

Desperate Souls is as close as you can get to being two different genres in one film. First half romance and the second half more of a psychological thriller than horror.

The movie begins with the introduction of Moira the succubus, played by indie film scream queen Angel Bradford as she seduces a down and out man named Kevin, played by Nathan O'Brien.

Move forward and we meet our protagonist Devin, played by Joe Rosing in conversation with his therapist Racheal, played by Sarah Dolan. It's here we establish Devin has mental issues such as depression and suicidal thoughts. When Moira, who is seen existing in a void, senses Devin, she becomes drawn to him. Knowing that falling in love with a mortal can have consequences, Moira resists, only coming in Devins dreams to make love to him and not fully taking his soul. Eventually, she gives in and takes on human form to be with him. This is when the film makes a turn and becomes a psychological thriller as an over jealous Moira makes sure that no one gets between her and Devin.

The acting of Angel Bradford and Joe Rosing are convincing and they do have chemistry, but it's Bradford's portrayal of Moira that is the stand out performance. Appearing in low (and even some lower) budget indie films, it's this film she gets to spread her wings (no pun intended) and show she is a very capable actress when given the chance. There is one scene between them that is acted extremely well and brings everything together nicely, for the most part (more on that later).

While Angel and Joe do a great job as leads, Magdalena Conway as the suspicious Rebecca and Jake Yanko as her sex driven boyfriend Dan, try, and most of time succeed, in stealing the film every scene they're in. The rest of supporting cast, Jamie Apple, and Mia Katz, are there for fodder, but, instead of being in the film just to fall to the hands of Moira, they have backstories that blend in with the rest of the film.

For an indie film, Desperate Souls is well written, and for the most part, flows at a good pace. The score from Tony Parsons is haunting, yet beautiful. I will get this out of the way, I did not like how the film ended for it made little sense. I'm not going into spoiler territory, but I was really disappointed.

Overall, Desperate Souls is a refreshing change from the usual indie films released or coming soon. It's not a perfect film for there are some issues sprinkled throughout, but they don't distract from the film itself.

I'll give Desperate Souls a 7 out of 10.

Steamy succubus story with a touch of horror.

[graysonamanda · 9/10 · 2 July 2023]

Really enjoyed this love story, yes to me it's more a love story, revolving around a succubus who falls in love with depressed man. The acting is fantastic across the board, especially from the hot lead actress. I'm not much of a horror fan but it worked well into the story and the part where a character gets something taken off had me sitting there with my eyes wide open. I'm not going to spoil the final 10 minutes but it had balling like a little baby.

Great story for anyone looking for a good romance film. There is partial nudity and convincing sex scenes. There is one part where one of the actresses does a "When Harry met Sally" scene that was highly enjoyable.

A highly enjoyable indie effort with some minor flaws

[kannibalcorpsegrinder · 8/10 · 21 June 2023]

Trying to get through life, a depressed man hoping to move on from a series of romantic disappointments finally solves it when he meets a mysterious woman, but the more they're together the more his friends believe that she's a succubus out to feed on his soul and tries to stop it from continuing.

Overall, there's quite a lot to like here. One of the main points for this one is the rather engaging and touching storyline that plays out like a demented romantic drama in structure. The amount of build-up here in the life of the guy who's as down on his luck as he is with not just the inability to find a girlfriend but his just generally depressed state that everyone in his life comments on and tries to help him through but gets shut down is pretty much fantastic at setting this relationship up once she arrives. The slow-burn changes to his behavior and appearance afterward around friends compared to the joy he shares when together with her is also handled incredibly well with just the right interludes of her picking off those she perceives as threats to be capable of providing a wholly investing storyline. Mixing together the right amount of seduction with the type of indie horror confrontations with the winged demon form appearing to level off the killing blow that results in some fine gore. Overall, these all provide some highly likable features here even if there are some minor drawbacks to be had with this one. One of the biggest drawbacks of the film is the way in which it speeds through the seduction to where it feels more forced than anything genuine. Almost immediately after meeting, the relationship extends to sleeping together, exchanging notions of affection that feel like those from decades-old lovers despite meeting the day before, and essentially going through a relationship without any kind of genuine connection. Her philosophical ramblings about what's going on between them and his stuttering mess trying to keep up and pierce through everything makes the early stages quite awkward with so many red flags about the relationship getting ignored for the sake of moving the story along which leads to the second issue in its overlong running time. Since this part is rushed and then backtracked into a normal relationship the pacing is off and it takes a toll on the running time that it tends to plod on, especially with the epilogue dragging this out. These, though, are generally minor and don't detract from the film too much.

Rated Unrated/R: Graphic Language, Graphic Violence, Brief Nudity, and a sex scene.