Wrath of Souls (2020)

If you are going to introduce a creepy groundsman who wouldn’t look out of place in an episode of Scooby Doo, don’t leave us hanging, use him!

Wrath of Souls (2020)

A young man named Kiran is possessed by a vengeful spirit, the Aiyai, which is intent on using him to fulfil its ultimate purpose.
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(aka Aiyai: Wrathful Soul)
Directed by Ilanthirayan Alan
Written by Ilanthirayan Alan, Charles Benedict and Mukund Ramanan

A Horror Movie Review by Mark Walker 

A neighbourhood is plagued by mysterious tragedies when a young man becomes the conduit for an unknown spirit, the 'AIYAI' which lures victims to their chilling fates. (IMDB)


Kiran (Kabir Singh) is a student, struggling to pay his rent and tuition and finding it just as hard to keep hold of a job. After losing his latest, one of his housemates finds him a new opportunity at a local crematorium. Despite a slightly bullish manager Darren (William Wensley) and a creepy groundsman (Craig Ingham) the job feels like a good opportunity for Kiran.
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However, it isn’t long before odd things start happening and, after a particularly bad morning at work for Darren, Kiran ends up possessed by a spirit out for revenge on the people who destroyed their life.


What follows is the disintegration of Kiran’s life as he unwittingly seeks revenge on behalf of the Aiyai, wreaking murderous havoc while his girlfriend, Sara (Tahlia Jade Holt) and housemate Felix (Vinod Mohana Sundaram) watch on, powerless to help.

The film follows a slightly bendy narrative, telling the story from a few different perspectives and starts about 1/3 of the way through before looping back to the events leading up to the opening scenes. After that it fills in the gaps around the Aiyai, where they have come from and identifying those who were responsible for its fate.


This is not a new approach to filmmaking by any stretch of the imagination, but it works well here and doesn’t deserve the criticism I have seen in some other reviews. While it would be easy to be deliberately obfuscatory until the end of the film using a device like this, Souls still takes time to fill in all the details but gives you enough to figure a lot out for yourself along the way.

This could open the movie up to allegations of predictability, but I don’t see that as a major criticism as you know what you are getting into early on in the movie and can then just sit back for the ride.

And that would be my main criticism of Souls, while being predictable isn’t an issue, it never quite ‘lifts off’ and takes you for the ride that you are hoping for. It is certainly creepy in places, but there are very few genuine scares to really drive you to turn the lights on.


Some of the acting and dialogue feels a little weak in places, but not enough to ruin the movie.

And, come on! If you are going to introduce a creepy groundsman who wouldn’t look out of place in an episode of Scooby Doo, don’t leave us hanging, use him! Michael is sadly under used, other than a slightly comedic turn in two scenes, but he doesn’t even get to act as the crazy local the out-of-town kids choose to ignore despite his warnings!

On the whole it is a well-made independent film and a promising debut by the director. Definitely a sign of good things to come.
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Bulldog Film Distribution (@Bulldog_Film) presents Wrath of Souls on VOD from 29 May 2023..

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