A period horror film set in time of cowboys and faith-driven murders, Jake C. Young’s Souls Chapel mixes the occult, a ghostly witch, and old-timey 1800s grit in a suspenseful thriller like no other.
When a drifter is cutting through the backwoods of Kentucky in search of gold, he decides to weather the snow storm in a small church called Soul’s Chapel. But will soon find out the fate that awaits him is anything but holy.
Souls Chapel, IMDB
Ray (played by Young), is a drifter in search of gold. When he travels through a forested area and meets a mysterious masked stranger and the visage of a woman dressed in white, members of the titular church nearby are overcome with religious dogma and the idea that the drifter is hiding knowledge of a literal goldmine. Souls Chapel has everything from apparitions and a monster to deadly dealings with human villains.
What struck me first about Souls Chapel was its aesthetic. Nailing the 1800s aspect on the head, the film looked the part, and the story felt right at home with the dusty church, candlelight, and filtered daytime horrors. Pairing it with a ghostly apparition of a supposed witch and her murderous monster of a helper, we’ve got a horror movie!
But not all of the thrills were of supernatural origin. The members of the church are hell-bent (pun intended) on not only finding gold but sticking to the idea that they can communicate directly with the great beyond. One of the plot points is a character being regarded as “the chosen one” that will lead them to riches, denoted by a mark on their hand. As Souls Chapel moves through the storyline, that plot device changes from person to person, leading to deaths and paranoia running rampant through the building.
Souls Chapel is a good example of daytime horror, perfect for a Sunday afternoon. It’s not grotesquely heavy on the scares (it hasjust the right amount), and its story isn’t one that will bog you down, but still entertain you. While not the most high-tech in terms of grand set pieces and over-the-top effects (it is a lower budget indie horror), Souls Chapel hits the spot with period thrills and chills to get you through a sleepy afternoon.
Souls Chapel is available to stream on Amazon Prime Video and other streaming platforms. For more, visit MTS Pictures and Jake C. Young.
