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Soul Survivors (The Killer Cut)Rating:
Release Date: 26 February, 2002 Retail Price: $9.98 OUR Price: $9.98 You SAVE: $0.00! Cast: Complete Cast (11 total) |
Soul Survivors (The Killer Cut) Reviews
disappointing movie, cool DVD
This was not a typical teen slasher movie as I was expecting it to be, but it wasn't very satisfying either. It seemed too familiar and too similar to a much better psychological thriller that came out about 10 years ago, called Jacob's Ladder, where the main character struggles with figuring out the difference between reality and fantasy.
The young cast is nice to look at, with Wes Bentley giving a credible performance, and Eliza Dushku acting a bit like her Buffy the Vampire Slayer character, Faith, here. New girl Melissa Sagemiller, who reminds me a bit of Claire Danes, did a good job as the lead character, but I found the performances of Casey Affleck and Luke Wilson to be very wooden and unemotional.
I was probably disappointed with the movie because I figured it out pretty early, and because it was so similar to Jacob's Ladder. I was also disappointed by the lack of tension throughout the story. For a scary thriller, the movie tended to relax too much inbetween the scary and tense moments, and when the scary moments did come, they weren't a surprise at all.
As for the DVD itself, it's got quite a few extras, and it's one of the few DVDs not created by Fox Studios that has alternate menu layouts to choose from, like Fox has done with the Phantom Menace, Bedazzled, and Me, Myself, and Irene.
One disappointment with the extras was that the behind-the-scenes featurette was only 4 minutes long, while there was a 10-minute interview with one of the bands on the movie's soundtrack. I would've prefered having more time go to the behind-the-scenes of the movie instead.
I'm glad I only rented this movie. I wouldn't buy it for my collection.
Surprisingly good
A lot has been made already about horror movies post-'Scream', but this movie does surpass expectations. It begins unoriginally, with a girl killing her boyfriend in a car accident after the argued about her 'last kiss' with her ex. After the death though she can't help but keep coming back to that night back at the eerie nightclub and the subsequent car accident and her life begins to fall apart.
Okay, so the story at first doesn't seem anything special. However, there's a great deal more than meets the eye. First of all it manages to put its audience on edge without resorting to blood and gore tactics. Even if it never scares, it certainly creates a loaded tension. Secondly, the various dream sequences are genuinely disturbing and really help to give an idea of the hallucinatory hell that the character goes through. Plus there's an efficient cast, including Wes Bentley ('American Beauty') and Eliza Dushku (Faith in 'Buffy The Vampire Slayer') although inexplicably these more bankable stars aren't given top billing. Those honours go to Melissa Sagemiller and Casey Affleck (Ben Affleck's brother), who are certainly good enough.
Although the movie does steer off course for a while with a contrived scene where the leading ladies get to shower together, it's unoriginal start punctuated with an underlying nastiness make it seem like a wink to its audience. What's most impressive though is its twist, which will make you look back at what's gone on before in a different light. This may not be as constantly innovative and frightening as 'Scream', but it sure does beat most of the other teen horrors out there.
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