‘Soul Mates’ Review: Don’t Get Ensnared in This Love Trap
Just as Jigsaw from Saw inspired other copycat killers on a moral crusade, the success of the series has also inevitably spawned a myriad of other knockoffs. Soul Mates, from director Mark Gantt, takes the trap game trope and pairs it with a demented online dating service. The result is a mostly effective mashup that falls somewhere between Netflix’s reality show Love is Blind and The Running Man.
In an obvious nod to James Wan and Leigh Whannell’s original setup, Allison (Annie Illonzeh) and Jason (Charlie Weber) wake up chained together in a dingy warehouse having no idea how they got there. They’ve never met, and quickly learn they are part of a sadistic blind date orchestrated by a smarmy host called The Matchmaker (Neal McDonough). In order to survive the night, they must engage in a series of first-date scenarios that all have potentially fatal consequences. It’s a fun premise that’s well-suited to a horror comedy. But just like people on a first date tend to do, Soul Mates takes itself a little too seriously.
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The first obstacle is a makeshift karaoke room where Allison and Jason are forced to sing just well enough to keep two onstage victims from being eviscerated in a meat grinder. After struggling through a little Phil Collins and Lil Wayne, they manage to get passed their very real stage fright onto the next sinister setup.
For the foodie obsessives documenting every meal on Instagram, the Italian dinner Allison and Jason are forced to attend may turn your stomach. If they don’t finish every disgusting dish, their waitress gets electrocuted. The gross-out factor ratchets up to eleven here, producing the best sequence in Soul Mates that weaves in a little humor along with an increasing amount of tension. (At the end of the scene, I was half-expecting The Matchmaker to say “Fear is definitely not a factor for you”.)
For every Saw-inspired ripoff, there needs to be a sizable twist you don’t see coming. That’s accomplished here to a certain degree when the not-so-happy couple finds a way out of the torturous maze before the start of the third act. That wrinkle might make you start wondering who’s really behind the curtain. Other finales from Escape Room: Tournament of Champions, Would You Rather, etcetera, have already left you plenty of clues to uncover who the real villain is.
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The true star of the show is McDonough who pops up just often enough with his maniacal grin and trademark glint in his eye to keep viewers from changing the channel. As the host of the online dating site Soul Mates, The Matchmaker has probably done this before and will likely do it all over again if the ratings are high enough. As for the couple themselves, there’s just not enough time for any real connection or chemistry to ignite when they’re both so busy just trying to navigate each trap.
Through all the elaborate carnival contraptions, Allison and Jason don’t ever seem like they’re in any real danger. There is always someone else who winds up being the collateral damage. That could just be a part of The Matchmaker’s evil design. Or, it could point to the hard truth that maybe sometimes it’s best just to stay single.
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Soul Mates
Summary
Soul Mates is just clever enough to be worthy of a double feature with one of Jigsaw’s deadly games or multiple episodes of Love is Blind..
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