SOULM8TE (2026) Review – Enjoyable Cheesy B-Movie Fun

Welcome to Knockout Horror and to our review of brand new AI themed erotic thriller Soulm8te (2026). This literally just went up to buy on Prime Video but is it worth your hard earned money? Well, it really depends what you are expecting. Let’s take a look.

It’s Set in the M3GAN Universe

I think that’s a good jumping off point when talking about Soulm8te, though I am quite tempted to take a pop at the stylising of the title, here. Shouldn’t it be written as Soulm8? Surely the current version would be pronounced “soulm-ate-ate”?

“This is, ostensibly, an erotic thriller, but like most erotic thrillers nowadays, it’s pretty tame.

Anyway, the story follows grieving widower David (David Rysdahl) as he acquires a state-of-the-art, prototype companion android called Sara (Lily Sullivan) from his boss Ben (Arty Froushan). Hoping it will help him cope with his loneliness, he has no idea of what is about to happen. Realising the limitations of the software, he decides to modify the code to remove certain safeguards. A decision that will result in catastrophe.

As I mentioned earlier, Soulm-ate-ate is set in the M3GAN universe and could best be described as a more adult accompaniment to that series of films.

Whereas M3GAN revolves around a dancing doll designed to resemble a young girl and features limited violence, Soulm8te is centred around an adult companion bot and contains quite a bit of gore along with the occasional pair of naked boobs and a couple of sex scenes.

It’s M3GAN but for a more adult audience

It’s an obvious progression, really, when it comes to the basic themes surrounding M3GAN. The uncomfortable truth around humans having the ability to create lifelike, AI powered robots is that, eventually, people would want to have sex with them.

And have sex with them is exactly what David does. This is, ostensibly, an erotic thriller, but like most erotic thrillers nowadays, it’s pretty tame.

Sex scenes are mostly obscured by darkness and there’s only one or two. We see Sara topless on a couple of occasions but it’s nothing like the erotic thrillers of the 90s where the characters spent most of the movie stripping off. If you are on the prudish side, don’t let the label put you off because the best way to view Soulm8te is as a proper science fiction b-movie.

We are here to see Sara going rogue, snapping limbs, and generally being a menace. Luckily, there’s plenty of that and we get into the action pretty quickly. There’s a little bit of preamble exploring David’s grief and general loneliness but it’s not much of a roadblock to the good stuff.

Sara’s arrival is marked by a ChatGPT-like willingness to please and this is something that David is not happy about. He wants Sara to be able to criticise him, make decisions, and actively learn so he gets to coding. This is where things go badly wrong, as a brief commentary on his terrible haircut eventually escalates into full blown obsession and a violent need to keep his attention.

It’s silly but quite fun

The premise is pretty ludicrous and I found it almost impossible to watch Lily Sullivan stiffly moving around without being reminded of Kim Cattrall in the 1987 movie Mannequin. Director Kate Dolan, who you may remember for the pretty fantastic You Are Not My Mother, has opted to dig deep in the bag of b-movie silliness, here.

“Soulm8te is unashamedly silly in just about every way.”

Sara’s movements are accompanied by a trademark robotic, hydraulic, mechanical sound and the character displays a lack of emotional affect to a level that would make a T800 blush. This feels like a movie that could have released during the heyday of science fiction cheese in the 50s and 60s; there’s something charming about that.

Soulm8te is unashamedly silly in just about every way. A scene where Sara performs The Cardigan’s Love Fool, complete with awkward dancing, at a packed open mic night as David looks on really underlines what this movie is all about. Don’t take it too seriously.

When you really dial into that, it’s pretty fun. Sara’s uncanny nature makes for a couple of comical scenes and Sullivan never forgets what the character is supposed to be. David is a pretty unlikable dude, despite his tragic past, so it’s easy to enjoy Sara completely going off the rails.

Most of the violence occurs on Sara’s unsanctioned trips outside the house and there’s some gnarly bone breaking to make those moments quite wince inducing. There’s a bit of padding during the middle as a second love interest (if the robot counts as a love interest?) is introduced before the finale turns into a full blown cat-and-mouse thriller. Again, don’t take it too seriously and you will have a good time.

Let’s be honest for a second

With all of the above being said, viewers who are expecting a serious movie to rival something like Companion are setting themselves up for disappointment. Companion is an incredibly slick film with a wicked script, tight story, and a razor sharp sense of humour. Soulm8te isn’t really any of those things.

“People expecting a full-blown erotic-thriller are going to be disappointed. Sex scenes are minimal and nudity is very fleeting.”

It has a very made-for-TV vibe and direction is frequently quite poor. I’m not sure Dolan has taken the helm on a proper Hollywood style thriller before and the picture suffers for that, in parts. Certain shots are quite bland and the editing is pretty bad, throughout. I felt as though Dolan left a a lot of scares and tension on the table, too, as well as a fair bit of action.

Sara’s transformation from good AI sexbot to obsessed, nagging killbot is not at all subtle or nuanced which leaves a lot of potential moments of discomfort unexplored. The whole movie has a low-budget vibe that feels a bit ill-fitting of a story set in the M3GAN universe. There’s a plastic feeling to most of the robotics stuff. Even moments later in the film where Sara’s skin starts to peel don’t look that great.

People expecting a full-blown erotic-thriller are going to be disappointed. Sex scenes are minimal and nudity is very fleeting. I don’t know if crushing knobs with your rogina counts as eroticism but I doubt it. I’m not an erotic-thriller fan so I’m grateful for the lack of sex scenes but it does deserve mention.

Soulm8te is set in the USA but was filmed entirely in Ireland thanks to Irish funding incentives. Weirdly, I kinda think the movie suffers aesthetically for that. There aren’t a tremendous number of locations in Ireland that are reminiscent of US cities so certain scenes just feel a bit wrong.

The ending of the film is woefully underdeveloped and unremarkable, as well. All that buildup for a finale that’s over with barely a whisper. It’s completely forgettable. Still, with that being said, if you go into Soulm8te expecting a cheesy, science fiction b-movie, you will probably have a good time. It’s not winning any awards but it’s a decent option for a lazy Saturday night.

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Horror is a genre that thrives thanks to indie film makers and low budget creators. At Knockout Horror, we firmly believe that every movie that we review deserves a fair fight. That's why we grade on a curve. Our star ratings are all about context, judging a film on what it achieves with the resources it has.

A 4-star rating for a scrappy indie horror made for $10,000 is a testament to its ingenuity and raw power. A 4-star rating for a $100 million blockbuster means it delivered on its epic promises. We don't compare them side-by-side; we celebrate success in every weight class, from the back-alley brawler to the heavyweight champion. Please keep this in mind when considering star ratings.