Carnival of Soul[Survivor]s

 

We've talked a lot here about that strange time in genre history when hot fully clothed CW Network refugees would star in forgettable PG-13 to the occasional light R-rated slasher. Scream's success had a long but weakening tail effect that put quite a few mid-budget thrillers on the big screen. You usually discovered these from newspaper ads that had a V-formation of attractive young people staring straight at the camera with a look of mild fear.

One such film: Soul Survivors (not o be confused with the near plural homonymic  Sole Survivor). 

Quick Plot: Cassie is ready to start college with her bad girl* best friend Annabel, ex-boyfriend now entwined with Annabel Matt, and soon-to-be ex-boyfriend Sean who's heading in the other direction to Harvard. The group enjoys their last night together by partying at a closed church, but things take a dark turn, literally, when Cassie crashes the car while taking a dark turn.

*we know Annie is a bad girl because she smokes, wears black, and is played by Eliza Dushku in full Faith Lehane drag 

Sean is killed, Cassie, devastated. Annabel tries to cheer her pal up but also starts hanging out with some goths, much to Cassie's horror. Matt becomes more convinced that he and Cassie are meant to be together. Halo-lit priest Luke Wilson shows up to dispense wisdom. 

It's something.

Written and directed by The Power's Stephen Carpenter, Soul Survivors feels like an earnest teen drama forced wearing slasher drag. I hate spoiling a film (albeit a poorly received one from 22 years ago), but as you probably can gather from this post title or, you know, from watching 5 minutes of Soul Survivors, Cassie is not quite in the same realm as her peers with a regular heartbeat.

Maybe this was more of a surprise in 2002. Even so, I can't imagine an early 21st century audience getting that much more out of Soul Survivors. It's sleek-looking in that way most mid-budget theatrical slashers of the era were, but it never comes close to being scary or even that suspenseful when the truth is so obvious. The performances are fine (well, the female ones) but the script doesn't find any interesting angles into the actual characters. 

Or maybe I'm just giving this movie a severe disadvantage because it's no Sole Survivor.

High Points

There's really not much on paper to the character of Cassie (she ... swims) so it speaks to Melissa Sagemiller's performance that we're still invested in her safety and sanity

Low Points

Trying to separate my dislike of Casey Affleck with his actual presence in the film, but you know what? I don't have to because he has so little of it! Wes Bentley fares better, save for the fact that his character is actually a creep

Lessons Learned

When looking for study help, never start with the mean blonde

Nothing is worse than the I Care For You But Speech

Always choose the college that puts freshman in dorms that have their own bar

Rent/Bury/Buy

As with most movies of this era, there is certainly some charm to be found in the style of the aughts. But the movie doesn't offer too much else. If you go in expecting a thriller over a horror movie, you might leave slightly more satisfied. You can find this one on Amazon Prime (and probably Tubi, because, you know, Tubi).