In the fictional town of Rocnoir, nestled in northeastern France, five children have vanished in the past six months. Police Major Elisabeth (Virginie Ledoyen) and Gendarmerie Captain Franck (Paul Hamy) arrive independently to investigate a new tragedy in the same locale: the brutal murder of the Vasseur couple (Jérémy Margal and Audrey Golaï) in their own home. The killer inflicted nearly 80 stab wounds on each victim. In the basement, Elisabeth discovers the Vasseurs’ terrified son, Evan (Cameron Baïne), who claims the Soul Eater from local folklore is responsible. Franck, however, believes the Vasseurs’ deaths are linked to the missing children.
Paul Hamy as Franck de Rolan in a still from “The Soul Eater”
This French thriller is based on Alexis Laipsker’s novel “The Soul Eater,” published in 2021. The film premiered at the Rotterdam Film Festival in early 2024. Directors Alexandre Bustillo and Julien Maury gained fame with their debut bloody horror film, “Inside,” starring Béatrice Dalle, a standout of the New French Extremity movement. For nearly two decades, the duo has successfully directed films both in France and the United States. In 2017, Bustillo and Maury were entrusted with “Leatherface,” a prequel to Tobe Hooper’s original “The Texas Chain Saw Massacre.”
A Shift in Genre for the Directors
“The Soul Eater” marks a slight departure for the French filmmakers. While the film contains plenty of frightening and gory scenes, with the directors lingering on corpses as is their wont, Bustillo and Maury primarily deliver a thriller. Spiritually, it’s akin to “The Crimson Rivers” and Scandinavian noir series like “The Killing,” “The Bridge,” “The Silence of the Lambs,” and the “Department Q” franchise.
Paul Hamy as Franck de Rolan in a still from “The Soul Eater”
Unraveling the Mystery in Rocnoir
Although the residents of Rocnoir blame the crimes on the Soul Eater—a horned creature said to dwell in the forest and steal people’s inner light—neither Franck nor Elisabeth believes in the supernatural. The French countryside once housed a large sanatorium, but now it’s a decaying place with no prospects. This makes it an ideal location for a child-snatching maniac. The town is hidden in the mountains and forests, and the underqualified local police only complain about the visiting specialists, unable to catch the dangerous criminal themselves.
It’s easy to discern that the film has a literary source, as the density of shocking events is so high that the audience has no time to breathe and process what’s happening on screen. While a TV series might feature one corpse per episode, the French film sees the killer strike every 15 minutes. And the Vasseurs are not the end of it.
Paul Hamy as Franck de Rolan in a still from “The Soul Eater”
Secrets and Shadows
Gradually, we learn about Elisabeth’s past, while the inquisitive Franck remains an enigma. Although their superiors urge the investigators to wrap things up quickly and avoid theories linking the missing children and other crimes in Rocnoir, the detectives refuse to back down, sensing they’ve discovered a small branch of hell in the mountains. Seasoned viewers won’t be surprised by the secrets hidden in the closets of the quiet town’s residents. An abandoned sanatorium, the basements of respectable houses, a sawmill, a dark thicket, a river valley—the filmmakers skillfully create a sense of dread with unsettling music, and evil can lurk around any corner. Perhaps not the Soul Eater, but certainly devils in human skin.
The French film is a breathless watch, but it risks fading from memory rather quickly. It’s a decent genre exercise that will please those who enjoy a thrill, but Maury and Bustillo race to the finale at breakneck speed, making it difficult to empathize with the main characters. In “The Bridge” or “The Killing,” viewers had several seasons to fall in love with Saga Norén and Sarah Lund, while the filmmakers, who started with the New French Extremity, are more interested in shocking than analyzing the actions of villains or revealing the personalities of the investigators. The decaying location is equated with a breeding ground for maniacs or, at least, deeply frustrated people. Bustillo and Maury don’t revolutionize the thriller genre, but they certainly don’t disappoint with plot twists or the ending.