PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Religious horror was brought to a new level in the mainstream with The Exorcist in the 1970s, but it’s been a genre staple since time began. The mixture of ideologies can really serve as fuel for a great story of trauma and triumph. Such is the case with Perfect Soul, a brand-new release from Acrostar Films.
Let’s dive into this movie and see what lies beneath.
Perfect Soul was written and directed by Steve Hermann (Night Of The Dead Sorority Babes 2025). It stars Chloe Lutz (Return Of The Corn Zombies 2025) as Nikki Strange, Dan Grogan (Mutilator 2 2023) as James Strange, and Kelsey Rhea (A Quiet Town 2026) as Marie Strange. James serves as the town’s pastor, Marie as the seemingly dutiful wife, and Nikki as the demure daughter. But as we dive more deeply into the small secular town of Perfect, we see that nobody is who they present themselves to be.
Like in most small-town horrors, the residents of this religious congregation are dual layered. While they appear on the outside to be innocent, God-fearing church goers, they’ve each got terrible sins that are hiding beneath the surface. Perfect has a history of persecuting those that they believed to be involved with the dark arts. But the witches of the past return and reveal the town’s seductive secrets to Nikki, allowing her to see her family through a brand-new lens.
Perfect Soul holds a lot of strength in its storytelling. It dares to cover topics like abuse, adultery, embezzling, and incestuous behavior. But even beyond that, it makes strong statements about hypocrisy and religious justification. The script gives everyone something interesting to do and doesn’t have a lot of fat to trim in spite of an over two-hour runtime.
The points in Perfect Soul are driven home by a really solid cast, as Lutz evolves from a meek and honorable follower into a vengeful final girl who really relishes in her revenge. Grogan and Rhea take the sinner stereotypes up to ten in the best way, as you watch them turn into monsters trying to hold up the lives they’ve built on a house of cards. As the well showcased gore starts to build, we’re left really understanding Nikki’s inner torment and fearing for her future.
Perfect Soul is shot smoothly, and chooses locations that feel genuinely lived in. The audience will feel like it knows the people in this town, making the confessions and intimacy feel even more tense and dark. In some ways it could be compared to The Clovehitch Killer (read our review here).
The only thing that Perfect Soul suffers from is telling us a bit too much in its dialogue. It does such a wonderful job showing us what is unfolding, so that sometimes the dialogue feels like an over explanation. The ending can also be left up to interpretation based on how viewers will receive the world of the witch coven.
But overall, Perfect Soul is an exemplary variation on the combination of religious and coven horror. It’s a well-acted, layered, tense film that comes highly recommended. This film recently got distribution, so be on the lookout for it, and go check out Acrostar Films to support all of their fine work.
