If you've seen Blair Witch 2, you'd know it would take some doing to equal its weirdness. Soul Survivors certainly does. (Without a goth eating an owl)
It starts out similarly to I Know What You Did Last Summer (4 friends going to separate colleges; the golden couple being separated by geography), but soon becomes its own movie. The 4 friends, Cassie [Melissa Sagemiller], her boyfriend Sean [Casey Affleck], her ex Matt [Wes Bentley] and friend Annabel [Eliza Dushku-playing a character very similar to Faith], leave a dull frat party,on Annabel's request, to go to a 'club' (which is a derelict church) The rave scenes are shot really claustrophobically,by the way. Matt goades Cassie into kissing him (a goodbye kiss). She does, but Sean sees and is furious. They leave and are in a car accident, which leaves Sean "dead".
The weirdness ensues hereafter, as the film keeps switching between fantasy and reality, only we don't know which is which. Cassie is pursued by a scarred man, masked man, witnesses Matt and Annabel acting strangely and has visions of Sean. She also encounters a priest [Luke Wilson] who died over 20 years ago.
Some of the weird stuff can be traced to the beginning. (The blood-scrawled message on the club wall reappears on Cassie's philosophy midterm). Some stuff, however, is utterly incomprehensible:
1/ Cassie running through the hospital/club simultaneously. Hallucination-within-hallucination? 2/ The gazebo scene,before Cassie is knocked down.
I know this is someone's subconscious, but it's a FILM for god's sake! It should make SOME sense! This is either a hidden message film (like BW2) or it's downright bizarre.
GOOD STUFF: Sean actually being the survivor and appearing in Cassie's subconscious... the chase between Cassie & the masked man... Raven the (wo)man- got quite a laugh from the audience...the crash scene-well shot...the scene where Cassie can only see her stalker in the shop windows
BAD STUFF: Constant shifting between fantasy & reality...the rave scenes...nothing explained satisfactorily...
I went with 3 friends. They hated it. I didn't. You've a 1 in 4 chance of liking it. B-. Didn't suck.
It starts out similarly to I Know What You Did Last Summer (4 friends going to separate colleges; the golden couple being separated by geography), but soon becomes its own movie. The 4 friends, Cassie [Melissa Sagemiller], her boyfriend Sean [Casey Affleck], her ex Matt [Wes Bentley] and friend Annabel [Eliza Dushku-playing a character very similar to Faith], leave a dull frat party,on Annabel's request, to go to a 'club' (which is a derelict church) The rave scenes are shot really claustrophobically,by the way. Matt goades Cassie into kissing him (a goodbye kiss). She does, but Sean sees and is furious. They leave and are in a car accident, which leaves Sean "dead".
The weirdness ensues hereafter, as the film keeps switching between fantasy and reality, only we don't know which is which. Cassie is pursued by a scarred man, masked man, witnesses Matt and Annabel acting strangely and has visions of Sean. She also encounters a priest [Luke Wilson] who died over 20 years ago.
Some of the weird stuff can be traced to the beginning. (The blood-scrawled message on the club wall reappears on Cassie's philosophy midterm). Some stuff, however, is utterly incomprehensible:
1/ Cassie running through the hospital/club simultaneously. Hallucination-within-hallucination? 2/ The gazebo scene,before Cassie is knocked down.
I know this is someone's subconscious, but it's a FILM for god's sake! It should make SOME sense! This is either a hidden message film (like BW2) or it's downright bizarre.
GOOD STUFF: Sean actually being the survivor and appearing in Cassie's subconscious... the chase between Cassie & the masked man... Raven the (wo)man- got quite a laugh from the audience...the crash scene-well shot...the scene where Cassie can only see her stalker in the shop windows
BAD STUFF: Constant shifting between fantasy & reality...the rave scenes...nothing explained satisfactorily...
I went with 3 friends. They hated it. I didn't. You've a 1 in 4 chance of liking it. B-. Didn't suck.