6 Souls (2013)

2 Stars (out of 4)

Personality Disorder

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

The Swedish filmmakers Bjorn Stein and Mans Marlind, who made the interesting Storm in their home country, came to Hollywood to make 6 Souls (originally called Shelter). The confusing, lackluster result languished so long on the shelf that their next movie, the equally lackluster Underworld: Awakening opened in theaters first. 6 Souls is a perfect example of too little, too late, and if not for the presence of the extraordinary Julianne Moore, it wouldn't be worthy of any attention at all.

Forensic psychiatrist Cara Harding (Moore) gets a call from her psychiatrist father (Jeffrey DeMunn), asking her to take a look at one of his patients, a man with a multiple personality disorder (Jonathan Rhys Meyers). After spending some time with him, she begins to realize that some of his personalities are murder victims, and that the man knows a little too much about them. Could he have witnessed a murder as a child, or is something far more sinister going on? Worse, several people in Cara's life, including her daughter (Brooklynn Proulx), seem to have developed terrible coughs and strange sores on their backs. Can she solve the mystery before it's too late?

It does start out with a fine idea: the man with a multiple personality disorder consisting of murder victims. But the payoff for this is so muddled and sluggish that it just lands with an uninspiring thud. The filmmakers can't seem to figure out how and when to dole out information to keep the mystery afloat, and even the characters get lost in the indecision. It's a rare flop for Ms. Moore; hopefully she will come back from it soon.

I received an Anchor Bay Blu-ray for this movie, which contains no extras. Audio/visual quality is very good, though, if anyone is actually interested in seeing it.