Director: Harold Hölscher
Release date: 2019
Contains spoilers
The Soul Collector was originally called 8 and is a dual Tswana and English language film hailing from South Africa. The name 8 has a significance but is not really explained and the frustrating aspect of the film is that there are moments that beg for more narrative explanation that is simply not forthcoming. Of course, a little mystery can be good and allow the audience to fill in the blanks but whilst this tries to do that, it sometimes strays into frustration for the viewer.
Set in the 1970s, the viewer should also remember that the apartheid system was still very much apparent in the country and this explains some of the undercurrent attitudes seen in the behaviours of the white (adult) cast members.
As it starts a farmer (Graham Clarke) lies dying in his bed. We hear footsteps and a man, Lazarus (Tshamano Sebe), enters the room (the farmer releasing his bladder as the footsteps come towards the room). Lazarus puts down a large leather sack and starts making a throat chant. The farmer squirms in fear as the sack opens and we see a moth start to crawl from the man’s mouth… The farmer lies dead, pained it looks like, and from the window we see Lazarus with his sack, exiting a shed outside and leaving the farmstead – his voice over talks in a way that suggests that he is a wanderer looking for something…
The farmer’s son, William (Garth Breytenbach), is driving to the farmstead with his wife Sarah (Inge Beckmann) and their niece Mary (Keita Luna). As the film progresses, we discover that Mary has lost her parents and Sarah is unable to have children. However a measure of Sarah’s personality is soon seen – trying to stop William telling local legends (of the mountain that is a snake) as it is too scary for her actually nonplussed niece, she comes across as neurotically overprotective and as the film progresses she also seems a shrew who thinks William weak. They stop to put flowers at a pair of graves – never explained but presumably either one is the farmer's or both belong to Mary’s parents.
They eventually get to the farm and it is dark with the power off (it is powered by generator) and, once in the house and looking around by candlelight and a lantern, Mary (who wandered off) screams. The audience, just before, sees a monstrous girl (Eve Maxagazo), but the scene isn’t connected directly to the scream as Mary says she screamed because her candle blew out. The next day, as William works ineffectually to fix the generator (he is an accountant by trade), Mary wanders off into the forest with her silkworm (in a musical box that plays the Swan Theme from Swan Lake – a recurring thematic part of the soundtrack that intertextually connects this film to Dracula (1931)). There she meets Lazarus.
Lazarus earlier sensed someone near, presumably the family - drawing him back to the farm. This connection is not really explained and, once at the farm, his target is Mary, who he ingratiates himself to. Sarah is panicked at seeing her niece with this stranger (and a black man to boot) and is neurotically wary of him. For his part Lazarus acts deliberately in a subservient way, says he used to work on the farm for William's father, is asked to leave by William who then (after Lazarus fixes the generator) changes his mind and asks him to stay. His presence alarms the local village who know him to be evil.
It is through them we get a backstory of a man who lost his daughter to a fire – however Lazarus was a healer and as he held her body, grieving he is spoken to… By what we don’t really know, perhaps a malicious God or demon, we only see an elemental smoke. He is told his daughter can be brought back and, accepting this, she awakens – but she is no longer his daughter. Sometimes with the face of his daughter, other times a demonic face, it is she who he keeps in the sack (though he left her at the house apparently – this is mentioned but again not adequately explored).
So, why vampire? Well, she is certainly undead (whatever she is, she uses the dead body of his daughter). She complains about being hungry (and this occurs when he gives her a plater of chicken feet – so it is something else she hungers for). It is Mary’s soul he intends to give her but to tide her over they go to the village and he uses his chant to draw the soul out of a local woman – we see the energy leave her like steam and then her soul emerge as a moth that he takes and gives to his daughter who eats it.
The thing that was his daughter eats (and hungers for) souls and it is interesting that they take the form of moths because of the Slavic folklore that sees a vampire’s soul as taking the form of a moth or butterfly. Unfortunately, as suggested, the narrative could be more explicit – why is he looking for Mary specifically? He gives her a jar with two large moths in it and says he chased them down a road to catch them – could they be her parents’ souls? If so, why did he catch those souls specifically, after they died, and why did he not then feed them to his daughter? What did the original title mean – he draws an eight on Mary’s forehead when attacking her and the villagers draw a large number 8 and set it alight to combat him but we don’t know what it symbolises (recognising that it could be an infinity symbol). And it is here that the film lets us down.
The film looks beautiful but the desire to understand more what is going on makes it somewhat frustrating – though still a really interesting watch. Tshamano Sebe was really great as Lazarus but the characters of Sarah and William were drawn in such a way that there was little sympathy for them. The film carried an atmosphere, especially around the demonic child, but failed to offer a major scare and yet I was really rather taken with it despite the flaws. 6 out of 10.
The imdb page is here.
On Demand @ Amazon US
On Demand @ Amazon UK
Set in the 1970s, the viewer should also remember that the apartheid system was still very much apparent in the country and this explains some of the undercurrent attitudes seen in the behaviours of the white (adult) cast members.
 |
| drawing out the moth |
As it starts a farmer (Graham Clarke) lies dying in his bed. We hear footsteps and a man, Lazarus (Tshamano Sebe), enters the room (the farmer releasing his bladder as the footsteps come towards the room). Lazarus puts down a large leather sack and starts making a throat chant. The farmer squirms in fear as the sack opens and we see a moth start to crawl from the man’s mouth… The farmer lies dead, pained it looks like, and from the window we see Lazarus with his sack, exiting a shed outside and leaving the farmstead – his voice over talks in a way that suggests that he is a wanderer looking for something…
 |
| William and Sarah |
The farmer’s son, William (Garth Breytenbach), is driving to the farmstead with his wife Sarah (Inge Beckmann) and their niece Mary (Keita Luna). As the film progresses, we discover that Mary has lost her parents and Sarah is unable to have children. However a measure of Sarah’s personality is soon seen – trying to stop William telling local legends (of the mountain that is a snake) as it is too scary for her actually nonplussed niece, she comes across as neurotically overprotective and as the film progresses she also seems a shrew who thinks William weak. They stop to put flowers at a pair of graves – never explained but presumably either one is the farmer's or both belong to Mary’s parents.
 |
| Keita Luna as Mary |
They eventually get to the farm and it is dark with the power off (it is powered by generator) and, once in the house and looking around by candlelight and a lantern, Mary (who wandered off) screams. The audience, just before, sees a monstrous girl (Eve Maxagazo), but the scene isn’t connected directly to the scream as Mary says she screamed because her candle blew out. The next day, as William works ineffectually to fix the generator (he is an accountant by trade), Mary wanders off into the forest with her silkworm (in a musical box that plays the Swan Theme from Swan Lake – a recurring thematic part of the soundtrack that intertextually connects this film to Dracula (1931)). There she meets Lazarus.
 |
| Tshamano Sebe as lazarus |
Lazarus earlier sensed someone near, presumably the family - drawing him back to the farm. This connection is not really explained and, once at the farm, his target is Mary, who he ingratiates himself to. Sarah is panicked at seeing her niece with this stranger (and a black man to boot) and is neurotically wary of him. For his part Lazarus acts deliberately in a subservient way, says he used to work on the farm for William's father, is asked to leave by William who then (after Lazarus fixes the generator) changes his mind and asks him to stay. His presence alarms the local village who know him to be evil.
 |
| back from the dead |
It is through them we get a backstory of a man who lost his daughter to a fire – however Lazarus was a healer and as he held her body, grieving he is spoken to… By what we don’t really know, perhaps a malicious God or demon, we only see an elemental smoke. He is told his daughter can be brought back and, accepting this, she awakens – but she is no longer his daughter. Sometimes with the face of his daughter, other times a demonic face, it is she who he keeps in the sack (though he left her at the house apparently – this is mentioned but again not adequately explored).
 |
| no longer his daughter |
So, why vampire? Well, she is certainly undead (whatever she is, she uses the dead body of his daughter). She complains about being hungry (and this occurs when he gives her a plater of chicken feet – so it is something else she hungers for). It is Mary’s soul he intends to give her but to tide her over they go to the village and he uses his chant to draw the soul out of a local woman – we see the energy leave her like steam and then her soul emerge as a moth that he takes and gives to his daughter who eats it.
 |
| hungering for souls |
The thing that was his daughter eats (and hungers for) souls and it is interesting that they take the form of moths because of the Slavic folklore that sees a vampire’s soul as taking the form of a moth or butterfly. Unfortunately, as suggested, the narrative could be more explicit – why is he looking for Mary specifically? He gives her a jar with two large moths in it and says he chased them down a road to catch them – could they be her parents’ souls? If so, why did he catch those souls specifically, after they died, and why did he not then feed them to his daughter? What did the original title mean – he draws an eight on Mary’s forehead when attacking her and the villagers draw a large number 8 and set it alight to combat him but we don’t know what it symbolises (recognising that it could be an infinity symbol). And it is here that the film lets us down.
 |
| Lazarus' grief |
The film looks beautiful but the desire to understand more what is going on makes it somewhat frustrating – though still a really interesting watch. Tshamano Sebe was really great as Lazarus but the characters of Sarah and William were drawn in such a way that there was little sympathy for them. The film carried an atmosphere, especially around the demonic child, but failed to offer a major scare and yet I was really rather taken with it despite the flaws. 6 out of 10.
The imdb page is here.
On Demand @ Amazon US
On Demand @ Amazon UK
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