Restless Souls

Restless Souls is a direct to vid soft-core supernatural thriller that doesn't seem to be listed at IMDB. The plot set-up is old news. Newlyweds have car trouble, and decide to spend the night in a haunted mansion. When the bride is abducted by the house, the groom's rich father hires a team of paranormal researchers. It is here that the writers had some original ideas. One of the team could see past and future by touching objects, which meant that he could see simulated sex from throughout history. The other man was the team leaders. One of the women, get this, was sexually irresistible to spirits (and living people as well), but the real genius was the fourth team member, who had telekinetic powers, which, at one point, she used to sexually arouse her partner.

The team discovers that the house is indeed haunted. It was owned by a civil war general, who made a pact with the devil. He would furnish the devil a virginal bride to procreate with, and the devil would make the south win the civil war. Unfortunately, the generals blushing bride failed the purity test. Now the general, long sense dead, is taking a last try at fulfilling his part of the deal.

NUDITY REPORT

The good news is lots of nudity and simulated sex, including full-frontal from Amy Hite, Leslie Lindsay, Maureen Flaherty and Ravenelle Richardson. Crotch patches were very evident during the hottest sex scenes.

The Critics Vote

no reviews on line

The People Vote ...

not listed at IMDb

IMDb guideline: 7.5 usually indicates a level of excellence, about like three and a half stars from the critics. 6.0 usually indicates lukewarm watchability, about like two and a half stars from the critics. The fives are generally not worthwhile unless they are really your kind of material, about like two stars from the critics. Films under five are generally awful even if you like that kind of film, equivalent to about one and a half stars from the critics or less, depending on just how far below five the rating is.

My own guideline: A means the movie is so good it will appeal to you even if you hate the genre. B means the movie is not good enough to win you over if you hate the genre, but is good enough to do so if you have an open mind about this type of film. C means it will only appeal to genre addicts, and has no crossover appeal. D means you'll hate it even if you like the genre. E means that you'll hate it even if you love the genre. F means that the film is not only unappealing across-the-board, but technically inept as well.

Based on this description, this film is a D+. Admiring the writers few inspired plot elements was not enough for me to like this film, but a good transfer would have made it an acceptable genre effort.