Summary
Soul City feels like a teaser for something grander, with the directors throwing their hat in the ring and persuading bidders to beg for more in this compelling New Orleans horror series.
Topic series Soul City season 1 will be released on the platform on April 28, 2020 – this review contains no spoilers.
Topic’s Soul City is sold as a mini-anthology horror series but it slyly feels like three short films banded together. Each one gives a new style in the depths of New Orleans. Directors Coodie and Chike place their talents on a multi-cultural city, serving three unique psychological horror stories. With Netflix and Hulu offering their own horror anthologies in recent years, it’s only fitting for Topic to tease us with the art of what’s possible with evident directorial vision.
And the uniqueness is what hooks the viewer for 15 minutes apiece in the New Orleans horror series. Soul City keeps the mystery at bay, dishing out a grave finale in the last few minutes, leaving audiences to ponder when the credit rolls like a routine Black Mirror episode. The Topic series is conceptual but refreshing, and after 45-minutes, there’s a strong argument that Coodie and Chike could create an extensive series and compete with the likes of Hulu’s inconsistent Into the Dark.
The opening episode (“Grace”) follows a young girl in a strict, African-American churchgoing family, divulging into religious eeriness and suggesting a higher power that is about to take over the young girl’s inner circle. “Grace” is noticeably grainy, with black and white grading to result in a transition later. It’s an effective opening chapter that leads you to the second and third episodes, one that follows a strange pillow and the other regarding a man that has sold too much of himself. Soul City is a director’s project that is effective and bite-sized.
Soul City season 1 feels like a teaser for something grander — with the directors throwing the hat in the ring and persuading bidders to beg for more; with a bigger budget and a pitch for more visionary ideas, it’s possible that the second season of Soul City could focus on a longer series with extensive storytelling. The Topic horror series will feel short-lived but appreciated and we can only wish there was more for the thirsty horror fans.
