Soul Mates is a 2023 horror film.
Two strangers, Jason (Charlie Weber) and Allison (Annie Ilonzeh), wake up in a room with their hands chained together after being kidnapped by strange men. A mysterious man who calls himself "The Matchmaker" (Neal McDonough) forces the pair to traverse a labyrinth and complete romantically-based challenges to save the lives of the Matchmaker's other victims—and hopefully, their own.
This film provides examples of:
- Eating Contest: A variant shows up in the restaurant challenge. While Allison and Jason are not competing against each other, they are still forced to eat an unrealistically large 3-course meal to save the life of the "waitress" (another kidnapped person who has been fitted with a Shock Collar that will electrocute her). When Jason realizes how impossible the challenge is, he tries to bolt for the side door to at least save the lives of him and Allison, but the door closes before they can reach it.
- Everyone Has Standards:
- While Allison admits she hates her ex-boyfriend Mike for cheating on her, she is still horrified when she finds him Bound and Gagged, having been forced into the game as well. She tries to rescue Mike but accidentally kills him by activating a cyanide capsule hidden inside his mouth. She needs a moment to process what just happened.
- Similarly, while Jason had a nasty falling-out with his brother in the past and hadn't spoken to him in 10 years, he didn't want to see him die.
- I Need a Freaking Drink: After Jason fails to save his brother's life, the first thing he does after getting over his initial shock is to walk over to the bar and pour himself a drink.
- I Ate WHAT?!: The meat that Jason was forced to eat in the restaurant challenge turns out to be his fiancé Liana. He immediately throws up.
- Karaoke Bonding Scene: Jason and Allison are forced to play karaoke in a fake bar by singing the other's favorite song. If they fail, one of their loved ones will be killed. Allison manages to pull off Jason's "In the Air Tonight" (Phil Collins) after some initial struggles, but Jason has no prayer of pulling off Allison's "How to Love" (Lil Wayne) since he doesn't know the song. As a result, Allison's grandmother lives, but Jason's brother is shot in front of him with a sniper rifle.
- The Matchmaker: The man who calls himself the "Matchmaker" is an Evil Is Hammy rich psycho version of this. Two people wake up inside a labyrinthine Death Course and are instructed by the Matchmaker through pre-recorded video messages to take part in various romantically-based challenges with both their own lives and those of other people hanging in the balance.
- A Shared Suffering: The purpose of "Soul Mates" is to force two strangers to fall in love with each other by making them travel through a maze full of life and death games that requires their cooperation to make it out.
- Shock Collar: A woman is forced to play waitress for Allison and Jason with a collar strapped to her neck that will electrocute her if they do not play along.
- Shower Scene: The two kidnapped leads are instructed to shower to prepare for their "first date". They are allowed to take off their chains to give each other some space.
- Snuff Film: One of the rooms is a theater where Jason and Allison are forced to watch a snuff film wherein Jason's fiancé Liana is forced to admit her adultery before having her throat slit in front of the camera. To add insult to injury, she is then sliced open and it's revealed that her corpse was used to provide the dinner in the preceding restaurant challenge.
- Stock Scream: After the theater room, the two leads are signaled to go to the next room with a recording of a man screaming in agony. This includes a Wilhelm scream.
- The Walls Are Closing In: The first challenge room has two walls rapidly closing in on the two leads until they quickly use a touchscreen and sift through several pages of legalize in a few seconds to agree to become "participants" on Soul Mates.
- Where It All Began: The maze takes the two leads through a lot of rooms, but at the end it turns out they were going in a circle and they arrived back at the room they started at.
- You Wake Up in a Room: Jason and Allison wake up in a bedroom in an Abandoned Warehouse with no idea who the other person is or who would want to kidnap either of them.
