# Lost Souls
*Lost Souls* is a 2000 American supernatural horror film directed by [Janusz Kamiński](https://www.edgepedia.org/janusz-kaminski), the Academy Award-winning cinematographer of *Schindler's List* and *Saving Private Ryan*, in his feature directing debut. [Winona Ryder](https://www.edgepedia.org/winona-ryder) plays Maya Larkin, a woman who survived a demonic possession as a girl and now assists a priest's exorcisms; she discovers a numerical code pointing to the true-crime writer Peter Kelson ([Ben Chaplin](https://www.edgepedia.org/ben-chaplin)) as the human vessel through whom Satan is to take form. Released by New Line Cinema on October 13, 2000, the film was a critical and commercial failure, earning a Metascore of 16 and grossing $31.3 million worldwide against a $28 million budget.[1](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Lost-Souls) • [2](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/lost-souls/) • [3](https://culture.pl/en/artist/janusz-kaminski)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Director / debut | Janusz Kamiński's first feature as director; cinematography by Mauro Fiore[3](https://culture.pl/en/artist/janusz-kaminski) • [4](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/61387) |
| Cast | Winona Ryder (Maya Larkin), Ben Chaplin (Peter Kelson), John Hurt (Father Lareaux), Philip Baker Hall (Father James), Elias Koteas, Sarah Wynter[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0160484/) |
| Release | Wide release October 13, 2000 by New Line; rated R for violence/terror and some language; 97-minute running time[1](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Lost-Souls) |
| Box office | $16,779,636 domestic, $31,320,293 worldwide, against a $28,000,000 production budget[1](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Lost-Souls) |
| Critical reception | 8% on the Rotten Tomatoes Tomatometer (92 reviews); Metascore 16 from 29 critic reviews, categorized as "Overwhelming Dislike"[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1101034-lost_souls) • [2](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/lost-souls/) |
| Audience score | IMDb rating 4.8/10 from about 12,000 users[5](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0160484/) |
| Home video | Released on video August 21, 2001 by Warner Home Video[1](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Lost-Souls) |
## Spoilers
### Plot
Maya Larkin, a French instructor at a Catholic seminary who was herself delivered from demonic possession as a thirteen-year-old, acts as a lay observer at the exorcism of Henry Birdson ([John Diehl](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-diehl)), a mathematics teacher turned serial killer.[7](https://www.deseret.com/2000/10/13/20089524/lost-souls/) • [8](https://moriareviews.com/horror/lost-souls-2000.htm) The exorcism goes wrong, leaving both the possessed killer and Maya's mentor, Father Lareaux ([John Hurt](https://www.edgepedia.org/john-hurt)), catatonic, and confirming the group's fear of a satanic conspiracy.[7](https://www.deseret.com/2000/10/13/20089524/lost-souls/)
Numerical codes hidden in the killer's journals convince Maya that the Devil plans to take human form by possessing Peter Kelson, a best-selling author of true-crime books, an orphaned atheist raised by his wealthy uncle, Father James ([Philip Baker Hall](https://www.edgepedia.org/philip-baker-hall)).[9](https://www.timeout.com/movies/lost-souls) Her task is twofold: convince the resolute skeptic that he is the chosen vessel, and find a way to prevent the transformation or kill him before it happens.[7](https://www.deseret.com/2000/10/13/20089524/lost-souls/)
## Production
Kamiński, who won Academy Awards for cinematography on *Schindler's List* and *Saving Private Ryan*, made his directing debut here and hired Mauro Fiore as cinematographer.[3](https://culture.pl/en/artist/janusz-kaminski) He described the visual approach in an interview with *Film*: "I wanted to show the murky reality which exists parallel to the one we know. Hence the use of chiaroscuro, an almost complete lack of color, the characters going out from the shadow into a blinding light."[3](https://culture.pl/en/artist/janusz-kaminski) He said the film was influenced by the 1970s "road films" *Serpico* and *Easy Rider*, and that he wanted cinema that "makes you think instead of providing answers."[3](https://culture.pl/en/artist/janusz-kaminski)
The screenplay is credited to Pierce Gardner, with story by Gardner and Betsy Stahl; the producers were [Meg Ryan](https://www.edgepedia.org/meg-ryan) and Nina R. Sadowsky, and the score was composed by Jan A. P. Kaczmarek.[4](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/61387) • [8](https://moriareviews.com/horror/lost-souls-2000.htm) Production companies included Prufrock Pictures, Avery Pix, and [Castle Rock Entertainment](https://www.edgepedia.org/castle-rock-entertainment).[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1101034-lost_souls)
According to a Fangoria review published on the film's opening date, New Line reportedly kept *Lost Souls* on the shelf for a year to avoid competing with the wave of supernatural horror that opened in late 1999, including *The Sixth Sense*, *Stir of Echoes*, and *Stigmata*; by the time it reached theaters, the re-release of *The Exorcist* was also in circulation.[10](https://www.fangoria.com/review-lost-souls/)
## Reception
**Box office.** The film opened on October 13, 2000 in 1,970 theaters, earning $7,954,766 for the weekend and ranking third.[1](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Lost-Souls) Weekly grosses fell sharply, dropping 59 percent in the second weekend, and the run ended after six weeks with $16,779,636 domestic and $31,320,293 worldwide, about 1.1 times its $28 million production budget.[1](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Lost-Souls)
**Critics.** The film received overwhelmingly negative reviews. On Rotten Tomatoes it holds an 8 percent Tomatometer from 92 reviews, with a critics' consensus calling it "just another derivative entry in the Apocalypse genre, with lackluster direction, unengaging characters, and no scares."[6](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1101034-lost_souls) Metacritic assigned a Metascore of 16 based on 29 critic reviews, with 25 of them negative.[2](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/lost-souls/) The Washington Post's Stephen Hunter called the story "a loose reassembly of plot points from *Rosemary's Baby* and *The Exorcist*" that never achieves the emotional intensity of either, while praising Mauro Fiore's atmospheric cinematography.[11](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/10/13/lost-souls-only-the-devil-may-care/233216f3-d24d-45b1-aa68-5df35421eefe/) Peter Bradshaw in *The Guardian* wrote that after tangled exposition the film "delivers some pretty effective thrills and chills," but that Kaminski did nothing new with clichés drawn from *The Omen* and *Rosemary's Baby*.[12](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/jan/12/culture.reviews2) Time Out's review credited the "eerie shadows and desaturated colours" but concluded that "the tedious storytelling sucks the life and soul out of the characters far more effectively than Satan ever manages."[9](https://www.timeout.com/movies/lost-souls)
**Assessments of the visuals.** Several reviewers singled out the photography even while rejecting the film. The Deseret News called it "a good-looking film" with "a series of startling images," while faulting the familiar plot and dialogue.[7](https://www.deseret.com/2000/10/13/20089524/lost-souls/) The Moria review took the opposite view of the film's craft, arguing that Kaminski largely avoided CGI and makeup effects in favor of psychologically driven scares, and nominated its cinematography for the site's Best of 2000 awards.[8](https://moriareviews.com/horror/lost-souls-2000.htm)
In Poland, critic Krzysztof Kłopotowski wrote in *Film* (1/2001) that although the plot was well constructed, the film was "of a very dubious quality," calling Kamiński "a non-believing prophet, one who does not believe in his own prophesies."[3](https://culture.pl/en/artist/janusz-kaminski)
## Context in the demonic-horror revival
*Lost Souls* belongs to a wave of occult horror around 1999 and 2000 that included *Stigmata* (1999), *End of Days* (1999), *Bless the Child* (2000), and the successful re-release of *The Exorcist* in 2000.[8](https://moriareviews.com/horror/lost-souls-2000.htm) Reviewers repeatedly measured it against that wave: Fangoria argued that its release after *The Exorcist* rerelease made the comparison unflattering and suggested the subgenre's well had been drained.[10](https://www.fangoria.com/review-lost-souls/) The Moria review instead ranked it above its closest cousins *End of Days* and *Bless the Child* for relying on psychological horror rather than CGI effects.[8](https://moriareviews.com/horror/lost-souls-2000.htm)
## Other works titled Lost Souls
The title has been used by several unrelated works. A 1960 Mexican crime drama directed by Benito Alazraki, in Spanish, runs 95 minutes and follows a woman who aids a man suspected of espionage.[13](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lost_souls) *The City of Lost Souls* (2000) is a Japanese action film directed by [Takashi Miike](https://www.edgepedia.org/takashi-miike), with a Metascore of 47.[14](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1110769-city_of_lost_souls) *Lost Souls* is also a Roblox action RPG by Hidden Studio with over 6.0 million visits,[15](https://www.roblox.com/games/17281418694/Lost-Souls) and *They Hunger: Lost Souls* was an unfinished commercial sequel to the Half-Life mod They Hunger, developed by Black Widow Games between 2005 and 2008 and never formally canceled.[16](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/whatever-happened-to-they-hunger-lost-souls-the-sequel-to-one-of-half-lifes-best-mods/)
## References
1. [Lost Souls (2000), Box Office and Financial Information, The Numbers](https://www.the-numbers.com/movie/Lost-Souls)
2. [Lost Souls Reviews, Metacritic](https://www.metacritic.com/movie/lost-souls/)
3. [Janusz Kamiński, Biography, Culture.pl](https://culture.pl/en/artist/janusz-kaminski)
4. [Lost Souls (2000), AFI Catalog](https://catalog.afi.com/Catalog/MovieDetails/61387)
5. [Lost Souls (2000), IMDb](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0160484/)
6. [Lost Souls, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1101034-lost_souls)
7. [Lost Souls, Deseret News, October 13, 2000](https://www.deseret.com/2000/10/13/20089524/lost-souls/)
8. [Lost Souls (2000), Moria review](https://moriareviews.com/horror/lost-souls-2000.htm)
9. [Lost Souls, Time Out film review](https://www.timeout.com/movies/lost-souls)
10. [Review: Lost Souls, Fangoria (The Gingold Files)](https://www.fangoria.com/review-lost-souls/)
11. ['Lost Souls': Only the Devil May Care, The Washington Post, October 12, 2000](https://www.washingtonpost.com/archive/lifestyle/2000/10/13/lost-souls-only-the-devil-may-care/233216f3-d24d-45b1-aa68-5df35421eefe/)
12. [Lost Souls, The Guardian, January 11, 2001](https://www.theguardian.com/film/2001/jan/12/culture.reviews2)
13. [Lost Souls (1960), Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/lost_souls)
14. [The City of Lost Souls, Rotten Tomatoes](https://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/1110769-city_of_lost_souls)
15. [Lost Souls, Roblox](https://www.roblox.com/games/17281418694/Lost-Souls)
16. [Whatever happened to They Hunger: Lost Souls?, PC Gamer](https://www.pcgamer.com/games/fps/whatever-happened-to-they-hunger-lost-souls-the-sequel-to-one-of-half-lifes-best-mods/)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › Individual films by title and year › Horror films (individual works) › Religious and demonic horror films*
*Initially written Oct 3, 2026 · Reviewed: Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Oct 15, 2026; Oct 25, 2026; Nov 1, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
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License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license