15 of 15 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not bad at all., October 1, 2005
This movie gets a bad rap for a couple of reasons. It's sort of a cheesy horror movie, and some people feel it's a cheat. But I don't grade movies like this against movies like "Schindler's List" or "Shawshank Redemption." I grade them on what they're trying to do and how successful there are. This movie doesn't have a lofty aim or a lot of ambition, so I'm not going to rip it apart for not being high art. It does what it wants to quite well.
Personally, I thought this was a better horror movie than any of the House of The Dead, Jeepers Creepers, Alone In The Dark, or House of 1000 Corpses bottom feeders. And to be totally honest, this movie has far fewer cheats in its explanations and mechanisms than say, "Momento" or "Mullholland Drive." So I don't see what people are complaining about. If this were a David Lynch movie, people wouldn't be crying that the movie makes no sense, they'd be lauding how subtle and brilliant it is for not "spoon-feeding you all the answers." But I digress.
Soul Survivors is about a college girl who loses her boyfriend in a car crash coming home from a rave with her friends. She's heartbroken. Then weird things start to happen. Crazy looking guys chase her around, then vanish. Her dead boyfriend begins to visit her with eerie messages. The plot thickens from there, and of course all is not what it seems.
Personally, I think this is a pretty entertaining and interesting movie. The casting is very good. Melissa Sagemiller makes a good lead character, Luke Wilson is great as the sympathetic priest, Wes Bentley is good as the ostensibly nice but somewhat sinister friend, Eliza Dushku may never have been more gorgeous in her entire career as the wild child best friend who is of little help to her grieving friend and gets involved in some pretty strange situations. The setting for the rave that is revisited a few times is also gorgeous.
I could go on and on, but in short, I think this is a good movie that achieves what it sets out to. It doesn't have half as many cheats as more artistic and ambitious movies, the casting and setting are great, and you could do a lot worse in this genre. 4 stars.
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17 of 19 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Not as bad as everyone is making it out to be..., January 24, 2006
I'd read so many bad reviews of Soul Survivors, but the plot sounded intriguing...like it was right up my alley. It's certainly not the best movie I've ever seen in any genre, but it was entertaining. It kind of reminded me of Vanilla Sky meets the Sixth Sense, if that helps. I found it for $5.50 at Wal-Mart so if you're into thriller/horror type movies, you can't miss for a price like that. It's something I'll definitely watch again and again. If you're still unsure, try renting it first. It was a pleasant surprise for me.
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21 of 25 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Pretty Good, October 18, 2005
This movie has a good premise but is SOO confusing! I watched it like 3 times and still dont get it. I will admit that the only reason why I watched this movie in the first place is because of my beloved Eliza Dushku :) But its acutally not a bad movie. You really have to think and concentrate when you watch this.
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