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SOUL SURVIVORS
Review by Gordon Justesen
Stars: Casey Affleck, Wes
Bentley, Eliza Dushku, Melissa Sagemiller, Luke Wilson
Director: Steve Carpenter
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1, Dolby Surround
Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.85:1
Studio: Artisan
Features: See Review
Length: 85 Minutes
Release Date: February 26, 2002
“Do
you love me, Cassie?”
“I
don’t want to die.”
“If
you stay here, you WILL die.”
Film
*
Soul
Survivors is a
most inexplicable, completely desperate and overall unoriginal supernatural
thriller whose only existence seems to be due to the success of much more popular
thrillers like The Sixth Sense, Final Destination, The Others and
even a barely seen gem called Stir of Echoes. This, however, is clearly
aimed at the teen audience, with the movie being marketed as the latest movie
from the producers of I Know What You Did Last Summer and Urban Legend,
two movies that I never forgave for robbing me of my precious time. I was
willing to excuse that notion for once because the cast assembled in Soul
Survivors is a lineup of actors that I very much admire. Unfortunately,
these talents aren’t even able to begin to save this desperate act of cheap
thrills.
The
film opens on a group of friends headed off to experience their first year at
college. The friends are Cassie (Melissa Sagemiller), lifelong friend Annabel
(Eliza Dushku) and her boyfriend, Matt (Wes Bentley). Also along for the trip is
Cassie’s boyfriend, Sean (Casey Affleck), whose helping with her move, but is
actually moving on to another college the following day. Later in the night, the
four decide to attend an out of town nightclub. It is there that later that
night when Matt gets Cassie alone and confesses feelings for her, leaving Sean
in a slight jealous frenzy. Driving back later that night, the four encounter
some unfriendly road company and get into a horrific car accident. Cassie,
Annabel and Matt survive, but Sean is killed instantly.
The
aftermath is very difficult for Cassie to accept, especially when she begins to
experience an enormous amount of hallucinations everyday. These, of course,
result in her appearing crazy in numerous public settings. Matt and Annabel do
what they can to help her cope with the loss, even though they don’t
understand the visions she’s having. Among her hallucinations is the image of
Sean, who is by Cassie’s sign mostly when she is in fear of her life or
whenever she is being rushed in to the hospital on a gurney. Also seeking to
help Cassie is the compassionate Father Jude (Luke Wilson), who tries to comfort
her in her times of extreme fear.
After
all the familiar mumbo-jumbo clichés that Soul Survivors has to offers,
the film begs a plot twist that when revealed, isn’t the slightest bit enough
to make the viewer surprised, even a person like me who seems to get knocked out
by any plot twist. All that I can make sense of the revelation is that it
appears to be attempting the same twist that was executed in Vanilla Sky,
but there’s simply no use in comparing useless drivel like this to a cinematic
marvel like Cameron Crowe’s recent remarkable opus.
Soul
Survivors is
the same kind of useless, teen-oriented, cliché-ridden horror picture that I
was hoping would end following the dreadful Urban Legend and I Know
What You Did Last Summer debacles. Hopefully, Artisan’s lack of enthusiasm
for the movie in its theatrical run is a sign that this type of genre is coming
to a close very, very soon.
Artisan does this release
a bit of justice with this anamorphic transfer. Picture quality is impressive
and resides very well, especially in bright lighted and outdoor settings. The
movie also includes a great deal of darkly lit scenes, many of which don’t
turn up as impressively, but for the whole part this is a mostly decent video
presentation.
The movie’s sound
quality is one of enormous fury, and Artisan’s audio presentation demonstrates
this notion very perfectly. The 5.1 digital presentation serves the movie’s
blazing sound to a grand extent, enhancing the furious music soundtrack that
accompanies it, which is mostly that of hard alternative/metal. There are many
scenes that take place in nightclubs, which are the standout moments of the
presentation.
Artisan
has prevailed immensely in this department, and they continue the terrific form
even for one of their more lackluster releases. Included are two documentaries;
a brief featurette on the making of the movie and a mostly amusing interview
with the rock band Harvey Danger, who contributed to the soundtrack, which is an
obvious fluke as the band talks of how the concept of the film was theirs
originally. Very funny to watch. Also include is scene-select commentary from
co-star Melissa Sagemiller, three deleted scenes, animated storyboards, trailers
for this movie and five additional Artisan releases, Blair Witch 2, The Ninth
Gate, Stir of Echoes, The Mangler 2, and the upcoming theatrical release, National
Lampoon’s Van Wilder.
Another
added bonus; the menus give you three options of menu designs, labeled as Reality,
Dream & Nightmare. Quite a neat touch!