My review of the Soul Survivors DVD "Killer Cut"
02-21-02, 03:23 AM
#1
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Thread Starter
My review of the Soul Survivors DVD "Killer Cut"
I originally ran this review at:
http://www.slushfactory.com/hollywoo...21802-soul.php
“From the producers of I Know What You Did Last Summer and Urban Legend,” raves the cover of the Soul Survivors DVD case. Well, I know what the producers did last summer. They made a crappy teen slasher flick and wasted a bunch of people’s time and money.
Soul Survivors is advertised as an ensemble cast of Hollywood’s “hottest” young faces, but the truth of the matter is that the only real star is Melissa Sagemiller, and I mean “star” in the loosest of terms. Her overacting could give Susan Lucci a run for her money. While her co-stars include Wes Bentley (American Beauty), Luck Wilson (Legally Blonde), Casey Affleck (Ocean’s Eleven), and Eliza Dushku (Bring It On), the fact is that all of the aforementioned actors could have been replaced with skateboarding zebras, and the movie’s plot would remain essentially unchanged. Actually, from the box art and promotional materials, you’d assume Dushku would be the film’s star, particularly because it is her face (among other assets) that is featured most prominently on the cover of the DVD case and film poster.
In reality, however, Dushku has a relatively minor role; one that probably took no more than a day or so to shoot. She, like everyone else other than Sagemiller, is simply there, contributing nothing of substance to the story. Amusingly, if you look at the DVD cover, Sagemiller is hidden in the back, her face barely peaking out. On the topic of the cover, I'm not quite sure who's eyes those are. Marlon Brandon's? Who knows?
So what is the plot? Good question, I’m still not quite sure. The film starts off in typical teen horror flick fashion; four friends are involved in a car crash after a night of partying and one of them (the boyfriend of Sagemiller’s character) dies. Sagemiller’s character begins to have some intense hallucinations, forcing her to doubt what exactly is reality. Unfortunately for the movie’s audience, we’re as much in the dark as Sagemiller. Some films work when the audience has no clue what’s happening, Dark City for example. Soul Survivors isn’t one of them. We’re thrust from hallucination to hallucination in what can only be described as editing hell. In a couple of scenes, Sagemiller actually has hallucinations within hallucinations. Why? I don’t know. If there’s any semblance of a story in this film, I couldn’t find it. After torturing the audience for 90 minutes, you think the director could at least throw in a powerful ending to tie it all together. Well, if wishes were horses. I haven’t seen an ending this anti-climatic since the Cola Wars.
Soul Survivors was initially shown in theaters as a PG-13 rating. The DVD however is being released as a “Killer Cut” special edition. The sticker on the front of the DVD promises “more blood, more sex, and more terror” than the original release. Well, sorry perverts, the sex comment is a bold face lie. There isn’t a single sex scene in the entire movie. And trust me, if any movie could have used one, it’s Soul Survivors. Aside from a couple of nipple shots of a butch lesbian, the closest you get to sex is a glimpse of Wes Bentley’s bare ass. Sorry, not my cup of tea. I ordinarily don’t have a problem with no sex in a movie, but if you’re going to promise it than you damn well should deliver. Duping customers won’t get you anywhere.
The extras are as boring and confusing as the movie itself. The “Behind the Death Mask - The Making of Soul Survivors” plays like an infomercial for the film rather than an interesting look at the creative process (if there ever was one, that is). Although it’s so short it doesn’t even matter. Perhaps one of the most peculiar and mind-numbingly stupid offerings I’ve ever seen in an extras package is the “Living Dangerously - The Art of Harvey Danger” featurette. Apparently it’s a documentary about Harvey Danger, a band on the film’s soundtrack, filmed by a teenager for a high school project. Wow, how exciting. Couldn’t the producers have found something more interesting to use? Like my high school film project about a reviewer forced to watch a shitty Eliza Dushku movie?
There’s only one commentary, that by Melissa Sagemiller. Of course, in the typical Soul Survivors “huh?” fashion, the commentary doesn’t run the length of the film; rather it’s certain scenes that you select one by one. While there’s no “play all” option for the commentary scenes, rest assured it doesn’t matter because Sagemiller has nothing to offer of any interest. And the director was apparently smart enough not to attempt his own commentary track. The remainder of the extras include the film’s trailer, animated storyboards, and three unique interactive menus, as if anyone could really care about varying DVD menus for this film.
Picture quality is fine with no real scratches or print errors. The video is delivered in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen with the sound being presented in two formats: Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Surround 2.0. The film doesn’t really take advantage of sound, however, so the most exciting audio sequence you’ll get is the initial car crash. It’s downhill from there.
Lackluster performances from a bunch of people who can’t carry a film on their own, combined with a horrible, contrived, and confusing script make Soul Survivors a movie you’ll want to miss. The only survivors here are the ones who stay away from this mess.
-Brian
http://www.slushfactory.com/hollywoo...21802-soul.php
“From the producers of I Know What You Did Last Summer and Urban Legend,” raves the cover of the Soul Survivors DVD case. Well, I know what the producers did last summer. They made a crappy teen slasher flick and wasted a bunch of people’s time and money.
Soul Survivors is advertised as an ensemble cast of Hollywood’s “hottest” young faces, but the truth of the matter is that the only real star is Melissa Sagemiller, and I mean “star” in the loosest of terms. Her overacting could give Susan Lucci a run for her money. While her co-stars include Wes Bentley (American Beauty), Luck Wilson (Legally Blonde), Casey Affleck (Ocean’s Eleven), and Eliza Dushku (Bring It On), the fact is that all of the aforementioned actors could have been replaced with skateboarding zebras, and the movie’s plot would remain essentially unchanged. Actually, from the box art and promotional materials, you’d assume Dushku would be the film’s star, particularly because it is her face (among other assets) that is featured most prominently on the cover of the DVD case and film poster.
In reality, however, Dushku has a relatively minor role; one that probably took no more than a day or so to shoot. She, like everyone else other than Sagemiller, is simply there, contributing nothing of substance to the story. Amusingly, if you look at the DVD cover, Sagemiller is hidden in the back, her face barely peaking out. On the topic of the cover, I'm not quite sure who's eyes those are. Marlon Brandon's? Who knows?
So what is the plot? Good question, I’m still not quite sure. The film starts off in typical teen horror flick fashion; four friends are involved in a car crash after a night of partying and one of them (the boyfriend of Sagemiller’s character) dies. Sagemiller’s character begins to have some intense hallucinations, forcing her to doubt what exactly is reality. Unfortunately for the movie’s audience, we’re as much in the dark as Sagemiller. Some films work when the audience has no clue what’s happening, Dark City for example. Soul Survivors isn’t one of them. We’re thrust from hallucination to hallucination in what can only be described as editing hell. In a couple of scenes, Sagemiller actually has hallucinations within hallucinations. Why? I don’t know. If there’s any semblance of a story in this film, I couldn’t find it. After torturing the audience for 90 minutes, you think the director could at least throw in a powerful ending to tie it all together. Well, if wishes were horses. I haven’t seen an ending this anti-climatic since the Cola Wars.
Soul Survivors was initially shown in theaters as a PG-13 rating. The DVD however is being released as a “Killer Cut” special edition. The sticker on the front of the DVD promises “more blood, more sex, and more terror” than the original release. Well, sorry perverts, the sex comment is a bold face lie. There isn’t a single sex scene in the entire movie. And trust me, if any movie could have used one, it’s Soul Survivors. Aside from a couple of nipple shots of a butch lesbian, the closest you get to sex is a glimpse of Wes Bentley’s bare ass. Sorry, not my cup of tea. I ordinarily don’t have a problem with no sex in a movie, but if you’re going to promise it than you damn well should deliver. Duping customers won’t get you anywhere.
The extras are as boring and confusing as the movie itself. The “Behind the Death Mask - The Making of Soul Survivors” plays like an infomercial for the film rather than an interesting look at the creative process (if there ever was one, that is). Although it’s so short it doesn’t even matter. Perhaps one of the most peculiar and mind-numbingly stupid offerings I’ve ever seen in an extras package is the “Living Dangerously - The Art of Harvey Danger” featurette. Apparently it’s a documentary about Harvey Danger, a band on the film’s soundtrack, filmed by a teenager for a high school project. Wow, how exciting. Couldn’t the producers have found something more interesting to use? Like my high school film project about a reviewer forced to watch a shitty Eliza Dushku movie?
There’s only one commentary, that by Melissa Sagemiller. Of course, in the typical Soul Survivors “huh?” fashion, the commentary doesn’t run the length of the film; rather it’s certain scenes that you select one by one. While there’s no “play all” option for the commentary scenes, rest assured it doesn’t matter because Sagemiller has nothing to offer of any interest. And the director was apparently smart enough not to attempt his own commentary track. The remainder of the extras include the film’s trailer, animated storyboards, and three unique interactive menus, as if anyone could really care about varying DVD menus for this film.
Picture quality is fine with no real scratches or print errors. The video is delivered in 16:9 anamorphic widescreen with the sound being presented in two formats: Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Surround 2.0. The film doesn’t really take advantage of sound, however, so the most exciting audio sequence you’ll get is the initial car crash. It’s downhill from there.
Lackluster performances from a bunch of people who can’t carry a film on their own, combined with a horrible, contrived, and confusing script make Soul Survivors a movie you’ll want to miss. The only survivors here are the ones who stay away from this mess.
-Brian
02-22-02, 01:55 AM
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lol, so I take it you didn't like the film
Thanks for the heads up, I was thinking of renting this. But only because I'm a huge Buffy fan and I liked Eliza Dushku as Faith.
I wonder if thats why they plastered her face on the cover, to get all the Buffy frantic to rent it.
Thanks for the heads up, I was thinking of renting this. But only because I'm a huge Buffy fan and I liked Eliza Dushku as Faith.
I wonder if thats why they plastered her face on the cover, to get all the Buffy frantic to rent it.
02-22-02, 01:58 AM
#3
DVD Talk Ultimate Edition
Thread Starter
Originally posted by David_M
lol, so I take it you didn't like the film
Thanks for the heads up, I was thinking of renting this. But only because I'm a huge Buffy fan and I liked Eliza Dushku as Faith.
I wonder if thats why they plastered her face on the cover, to get all the Buffy frantic to rent it.
lol, so I take it you didn't like the film
Thanks for the heads up, I was thinking of renting this. But only because I'm a huge Buffy fan and I liked Eliza Dushku as Faith.
I wonder if thats why they plastered her face on the cover, to get all the Buffy frantic to rent it.
-Brian
02-22-02, 10:53 AM
#4
Moderator
Thanks for your informative review. For some reason I really wanted to see this one (some on-line places actually gave it good reviews), but after reading what you wrote, I am having second thoughts. I might rent it sometime if there is nothing better out there. I mean, this has to be better than Thirteen Ghosts, right?
