Sadly Over-hyped

Excellent but underrated film

Good films always raise compelling questions, whether the format is fiction or documentary fact.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

Canadian-made TV show about a haunted hospital in Boston. Similar to KINGDOM HOSPITAL, in one sense, and X-FILES in another. The generic lead at least has the right look and feel, and the pilot has him as a promising young intern working at All Souls Hospital. Get it? All souls? Our young doctor runs into apparitions and mysterious messages almost from the get-go. He has a mystery to solve involving the disappearance of several patients, and is aided in his quest by your typical Jimmy Olsen-type sidekick, an orderly who seems to be able to access almost any locked office or private file. The special effects aren't bad for a TV show, the gore is minimal, and the action and suspense builds nicely for awhile -- until we get to the big climax involving a Nazi-type doctor (played by one of the worst actors I have ever seen) performing hideous experiments on those missing patients. At this point, everything sort of deflates because, after all, this will be an ongoing TV series and you can't very well play everything out in the first episode. Our hero ends up staying at this cursed hospital rather than heading for Yale, where he really belongs, and goes on to solve various mysteries, usually involving the supernatural to some degree. He is The One, apparently. How do I know? Because the bad guy called him that in the pilot. OK to watch when there's no HOUSE, MD or SCRUBS or even an old X-FILES episode on. And ALL SOULS certainly is better than that wretched Stephen King-penned KINGDOM HOSPITAL.

Wading through a pile of old VHS tapes, I came across one with the first 3 (out of 6 total) episodes of this series. I had positive memories of it when it first aired, and after suffering through ABC's and Stephen King's lame and silly transplanting of Von Trier's The Kingdom to American TV, I thought I'd take another look at this series. While obviously inspired by the original Kingdom, All Souls never stooped as low as King's American version, Kingdom Hospital, simply tracing over most of Von Trier's main characters, along with a few cloyingly sympathetic and laughably scary new characters King pulled out of his arse for his adaptation.All I can say, it's a real shame UPN never gave this series a chance. I think the suits at the network thought this show would be a good companion "spook show" that they could lure the Buffy The Vampire Slayer audience with after that show jumped from the WB to UPN... The problem with that thinking was All Souls took it's horror VERY seriously, not utilizing the wise-cracking post-modern attitude Buffy copped ("yeah, we know this demon stuff is really silly, so we'll make jokes about it while occasionally acting serious when it's supposed to be life and death at stake, pun not intended there but I'll still use it--in the spirit of Buffy).All Souls was clearly intended for fans of horror, and it did not disappoint. The show only ran for six episodes, and in that time it managed to establish it's central premise of a haunted hospital in Boston with a dark past dating back to the civil war of horrifying medical atrocities and implied reincarnation of both the evil and the good characters who inflicted and resisted these practices. Disturbing images, ancient underground sections of the "old" All Souls Hospital, and really creepy characters who inhabited the cursed hospital all contributed to an experience that was all too rare for most network "horror" shows. All Souls clearly was working to raise shivers somewhere on viewer's bodies, and mood or a gross-out image would both be used to achieve the desired effect a good horror story should create.It's a shame the show was never given the green light to continue either through the summer (it debuted in the spring--proof right there UPN was uncomfortable with the show and sought to run through it quickly in a six week period) or picked up for a whole season. Basing an opinion on an incomplete run of a show is like judging how successfully an airplane took-off while it's still up and the air and before it attempts landing--who knows whether it would have crashed and burned with it's subplots by the end of an entire run.If you're a fan of horror TV and get a chance to catch a look at this show (hopefully on a DVD release), check it out. UPN at least ventured out on a limb with this (X-Files aside, most horror or supernatural show that take themselves seriously without a bunch of teen eye candy to sprout smart-ass one-liners rarely stay on the air past a 13 episode commitment) and produced 6 good, creepy episodes. I have no knowledge if the "big 3" networks took first look at this series' proposal, or Fox or the WB for that matter, but some of them obviously were pitched this and passed on it. A big cheer to the UPN network (the last chance network) for at least taking a chance and putting on the air.

All Soul's Hospital is a teaching Hospital in Boston with a reputation for being the one of the very best, but what most people don't know is that All Soul's has an underside. Something dark and malignant is pulling the strings here and from a bright and happy looking start we are suddenly pulled into a seamy world of ghosts, demons(?), sadistic experiments, immortal doctors, possessions, and more.This series is a well written mix of horror, drama, and fantasy. We're not always sure that we're seeing what's really there, and sometimes when we ARE sure, we wish we weren't. It takes something exceptional to keep a jaded old vet like me at the edge of my seat, and the pilot of this series certainly delivered. One can only hope that the rest of the series stands up as well.The cast is superb, the only flaw with them and the characters being the unavoidable one; being only a one hour pilot and not having room for the characters to grow (yet). Further episodes will hopefully expand their borders into new ground. The cinematography is dark and brooding, leaving shadows to hide the things that don't want to be seen. Plotting and direction were riveting, my wife and I didn't want to miss a second. The only other detractor from this show is the network's idiotic idea of placing similar shows in the same time slot. The WB's Angel is already pretty much dominating the market share, if not the ratings, and is well established with a loyal fan base. Given the choice, even I would tune in Angel instead (Thank heaven for VCR's) and I really like the show.In a nutshell, if you don't like Angel (And Buffy the Vampire Slayer), then you're not likely to enjoy this series. You're likely to find it highly depressing and occasionally gross. But if you DO like Angel and Buffy the Vampire Slayer, I hope you have a VCR. You won't want to miss this one.

While the pilot was not the most defining episode to begin a series, it set the tone for a mix of mystery, suspense, and chills. This show delivers on a much deeper level that outright scares you would find in some other shows on television right now. This is a far different show than anything I ever seen on tv. The closest thing I would compare it to, as far as atmosphere and mood would be The Shining. The concept is a much different one than I am used to. It incorporates themes that hardcore science fiction shows use. It has what I call an apocalyptic tone to it, where "one man will come and he will lead us to salvation or damnation." While maintaining a grounding rod in reality. It is still early on in the show, but from my standpoint All Souls delivers the chills and the right dose of action and suspense to make it successful. Don't listen to my opinion, give the show a chance and formulate your own you might be surprised...