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Souls for Sale

Play trailer Souls for Sale 1962 1h 25m Mystery & Thriller Play Trailer Watchlist
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An American (Vincent Price) navigates Chinatown's underworld in 1890s San Francisco when he goes there to experiment with opium.

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Souls for Sale

Critics Reviews

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Ed Gonzalez Slant Magazine Puts to shame anything posing as serious philosophical thought in the Matrix films. Rated: 4/4 Jun 2, 2003 Full Review Dennis Schwartz Dennis Schwartz Movie Reviews Leaves you high for at least a half hour after viewing. Rated: A Apr 26, 2006 Full Review Shane Burridge rec.arts.movies.reviews (The) distributor's alternate title SOULS FOR SALE...advertises the film's sinister proceedings right from the opening credits Mar 9, 2004 Full Review Read all reviews

Audience Reviews

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Daniel C. M A very, very weird film that can only be described with a fistful of adjectives: this is basically a experimental and philosophical dark comedy crime-drama-thriller action-adventure film. Yeah, there's not really a easy way to describe the experience that is this film, even if sometimes it tries a little too hard and fails, but these moments are few and far between; though the film could've also benefitted from a shorter runtime as there are plenty of scenes that drag even for a conceptual movie like this, specially towards the ending. Features philosophical and existential conversations alongside drug induced fever dream visuals, sound and direction; all of that inbetween Vincent Price playing as a descendent of the real-life Thomas de Quincy named Gilbert de Quincy, throwing punches at Chinese human traffickers in San Francisco's Chinatown that features claustrophobic enviroments and loads of trapdoor-like devices that goes as far as looking like some kind of mixture of a Indiana Jones's temple and a Bond villain's lair. It is really one of those movie you need to watch before you die. Rated 4 out of 5 stars 06/13/25 Full Review Audience Member Vincent Price throwing punches. Where else are you going to see that? Rated 3.5 out of 5 stars 02/25/23 Full Review Audience Member Leaves you high for at least a half hour after viewing. Rated 3 out of 5 stars 01/21/23 Full Review Audience Member Laughable dud that makes one long for Joel and the Bots to verbally savage its wall-to-wall aphorisms and plodding hero. Rated 1 out of 5 stars 02/20/23 Full Review Audience Member Confessions of an Opium Eater focuses on the slave trade of young Chinese woman in turn of the century San Francisco. We follow an philosophical bantering adventurer (Vincent Price) as he descends into this underground world of trap doors, secret rooms, hidden passages, and lots and lots of opium. Its essentially an early 1930s adventure film meets drug movie and its really original and fascinating exploration into the Chinese slave trade. Vince Price is awesome, per usual, as the adventurer who spews out philosophical ramblings like no other, but its for the most part endearing and timely, although it does come off a little over bearing at times. Although, this philosophical banter does pretty much pay off at the end, which a fantastic closing sequence. The drug sequence and subsequent chase sequence in this film are pretty much perfect. The decision to film the entire chance sequence in slow motion due too our main protagonist being high on opium is beautiful to behold, and really brings the sequence to life. The sound design is very bizarre, yet perfect for this Asian themed tale. As funny as this sounds, it reminded me someone of A BIG TROUBLE IN LITTLE CHINA, and I couldnt help but think.. "I wonder if John Carpenter had watched this before making that". I could definitely see why this film as overlooked during its initial release, but its just so original and different that their is no doubt in my mind of why its become a cult classic. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/17/23 Full Review Audience Member Amazingly bizarre little 60's gem starring the almost-always amazing Vincent Price. The way he wraps himself around the weird, wordy, philosophy-laden dialogue is phenomenal. Rated 4.5 out of 5 stars 02/08/23 Full Review Read all reviews
Souls for Sale

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Movie Info

Synopsis An American (Vincent Price) navigates Chinatown's underworld in 1890s San Francisco when he goes there to experiment with opium.
Director
Albert Zugsmith
Producer
Albert Zugsmith
Screenwriter
Robert Hill
Genre
Mystery & Thriller
Original Language
English
Release Date (Streaming)
Jan 13, 2017
Runtime
1h 25m
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