Liz and I both saw this movie together so I'm writing a joint review that represents both of our opinions.  Anyway, both Liz and I were wondering why there wasn't much advertising for this movie.  Did you see any T.V. commercials or any previews for "Soul Survivors"?  Well, if you think back a while, maybe you will remember seeing previews....like maybe a year ago.  Apparently this movie's release date was pushed back a bit (to say the least-- it was originally set to open in September of 2000!) which normally isn't a good sign...and in this case, Liz and I should have taken the hint and skipped this movie.

     Here's a little bit of plot:  A group of kids, Cassie, Annabel, Matt, and Sean are going away to college.  Cassie and Sean are a couple, Annabel and Matt are a couple, and Cassie and Matt used to be a couple but broke up-- and still, they are all best friends, how sweet!  Anyway, once they arrive at school they go to a frat party, Sean tells Cassie he loves her, blah, blah, and then they all regroups and go to some club (which is actually an old church) in the middle of nowhere for a good ole fashioned rave.  Anyway, there's drinking, smooching, dancing, and stalking.  The stalking is important but unexplained:  two dudes (one old guy with a scarred face and an other guy with some creepy clear mask) keep checking out Cassie and Annabel.  The girls don't like the attention and decide to leave after a little while.  BUT, before we leave the party for some reason Matt convinces Cassie to kiss him one last time (they broke up and she's dating Sean, remember?) which, of course, Sean witnesses.  So, Cassie drives them all home but keeps apologizing to Sean about the kiss and she keeps taking her eyes off the road....see where this is going?  

     They get into a car accident with the two guys from the club that were stalking Cassie and Annabel....what a coincidence.  Anyway, Sean dies, and they all go back to school.  But Cassie keeps seeing Sean and having visions and nightmares of blood squirting out of her nose and stuff like that.  The rest of the movie (and I've only described about the first 10 minutes so far) is a mixture of Cassie freaking out about the "guy from the club" stalking her, flashbacks/nightmares of doctors in an OR trying to drill a hole in her head, and more visions of blood squirting from various parts of her head.

      The movie was very confusing and half of the time it jumped from one scene to the next without explanation.  Maybe the director/writer intended for the audience to be confused just like the main character Cassie...but it sure was annoying to watch.  Anyway, at the end of the movie we figure out (mostly) why Cassie had the visions and nightmares but the explanation was pretty weak.  I mean, sitting through 2 hours of a painfully confusing and often cheesy movie does not justify the "tricky" ending at all.  Do yourself a favor and skip "Soul Survivors".

   
     --  Patsy & Liz ( 1 1/2 out of 4 pops )

Talk about this film with other Popkorn Junkies

      Billy Ray ( 0 out of 4 pops )

     "Soul Survivors" is, without a doubt, the worst film I have EVER seen.  I thought "Vanilla Sky" would hold that position for longer, but it has been overthrown.  The film is confusing, stupid, ridiculous, absurd, non-explanative, annoying, and--most of all--not entertaining.  We never know what is going on because the director doesn't explain anything.  We don't know if Affleck is dead or alive, if Dushku is straight or gay, or if Angela Featherstone is a man of woman?  The script is pointless and the ending reveals that the title character has been dreaming everything--sorry if I spoiled anything for you, but I really don't care.  The primary reason this film's release was delayed was because of a few poor test screenings.  I want to know which morons finally liked the film enough to decide it didn't need to go directly to video.  Forget that--I've seen many direct to video releases that make this film look like crap (though that is not hard to do).  I repeat--this is the worst film I have ever seen in my entire life--I would rather be sent to hell for infinity than watch this piece of crap again.  Wes Bentley, Eliza Dushku, Casey Affleck, and whatever the lead girls name is, should all be banned from filmmaking for at least a few years; wait, for the rest of their lives.  This film was THAT bad.