Extraordinary storytelling and writing for this low-budget feature film. Science meets God when a doctor discovers a chemical formula that allows the human eye to see the essence of energy. The story makes a play for the advancement of psychoactive drugs. The "see smells" and 96 souls scenes are well worth the wait. The protagonist Dr. Jack Surtree "has it all" on the surface, yet his personal life is falling apart. He is facing dwindling research funding, an estranged wife, mother in a nursing home and loyal dog passing away. It seems Dr. Surtree's entire life has been devoted to controlled deductive reasoning with methodical outcomes, and he has hit a wall. Grinnell Morris is an excellent actor in this role, especially in such scenes where he convincingly says a sweet goodbye to his dying dog. He must venture into the unknown to find solutions. With the aid of his new formula and a little help from his friends (a minister, a homeless schizophrenic, and an East Indian doctor) he succeeds in finding a humanitarian medical cure for society. The characters expand on these ideas with heart-felt revelations, delivered by strong actors. I admit to tearing up on several occasions. "When you are free, I am free; we can't escape the effect we have on each other in the larger societal consciousness."

96 SOULS is an indie thriller with science fiction touches. The film's protagonist lead (a Sharlto Copley lookalike) has a laboratory accident, but instead of turning into a giant green monster with anger issues, he has the power to see inside people's heads and thus their real intentions. Yeah. It's not a very exciting concept for a movie, and perhaps would have worked better as a novel. In any case, this film is as dull as can be, with very little effort or vitality to make it of interest.

The beauty of this film is it has depth (a turnoff for some fanboys). You see a work-focused scientist, Jack, have his perception altered to be able to see the soul of certain people he encounters, whether rich or poor. It reminds us that the soul, not our exterior, is really who we are.The dialogue is realistic, different from typical sci-fi, with a little humor thrown in. (This type of exposition is preferable to what we heard in Dr. Strange). One character, Basement (a very talented actress), wins over your heart. Jack's decision to help her appears at first as self serving, but the journey leads to a human discovery as important as his scientific discovery. If you can switch from the typical way today's films come across and let it work on you, your mind and heart will be engaged to understand its powerful message. I'd like to see future work from the very diverse cast and filmmakers.

Very short review on this one. The story starts out okay with an interesting concept (being able to visibly see odors), but then devolves into absurdist directing and not-so-special "special effects" that have no sensible or reasonable basis. What starts out as science fiction quickly become science slop. Oddly, this happens at the very same time the theretofore reasonable script suddenly explodes in a blast of profanity. It makes one wonder if they completely changed directors and writers 20 minutes into the work... and decided to throw decent writing, reason, acting and good directing out the window in favor of shock schlock. What began as a reasonable premise becomes unbearably ridiculous-- at which point I decided to waste no more of my time than already spent on this spud.