- Joined
- Jul 3, 1997
- Messages
- 66,787
- Real Name
- Ronald Epstein
Soul Survivors
I am very happy to have the opportunity to
start reviewing Artisan Home Entertainment
product. With a very promising schedule this year,
I am certain I'll be enjoying many of their releases.
Unfortunately, Soul Survivors is not
going to be one of them.
You would think that from the producers of
"I Know What You Did Last Summer" and
"Urban Legend", that this newest venture,
Soul Survivor, would hold much promise --
especially with the DVD box promising: The Killer
Cut! More blood! More sex! More terror than
the theatrical release!
Well, I can tell you right off the bat that
the film isn't overly bloody, certainly not gory,
and the fact that there is absolutely NO graphic
nudity from the beautiful young women who star
in this film is probably why I was terrified!
What is even more disappointing, is that I am
not really sure if I know what happened in this film.
The story concerns College Freshman Cassie
(Melissa Sagemiller) whom after a night of partying
with her friends, ends up in a horrific accident.
Her life suddenly turns into a tale of the supernatural
as she is overwhelmed by hallucinations, not knowing
what is real and what is not. As she clings to her
lost love, Shawn (Casey Affleck), it's a sudden race
against time to learn why she is being stalked by
people who want her dead.
The film plays more out to be a psychological
thriller than a terror movie. It doesn't garner
any real suspense nor does it pay off with any great
scares. My biggest problem with the film was that
by the time the film ended, I wasn't completely sure
if characters were alive, dead, or what the final
outcome really was.
How does the transfer look?
I have to tell you, this DVD ranks up there with
the most beautiful transfers I have reviewed.
Looking at the anamorphic transfer is almost like
looking out a window. There is no grain, film
blemishes nor artifacts of any kind that make you
feel you are looking at film. The picture is
astonishingly close to video perfection. Colors
are extremely accurate, with flesh tones and hair
colors looking dead-on (excuse the pun) perfect.
The 5.1 Dolby Digital audio mix is also as
perfect as the video transfer. Audio is extremely
crisp and natural sounding. You sit and hear the
sound of wind softly blowing and leaves rustling in
the trees. These effects are so subtle, but yet they
rise above the soundtrack of the film.
The rears are used to great advantage. For instance,
in a rave held at an abandoned church, the intensity
of the action is heightened by the pounding music
that literally swirls from front to rear to front.
There seems to be a constant amount of surround
activity that effectively supplements some of the
movie's more intensified scenes.
My major gripe about this DVD is that it contains
no English subtitling that would help the hard of
hearing (like myself). The only subtitles included
are in Spanish.
Special Features
Popping in the disc, you immediately come to a
screen with three selections: REALITY. DREAM.
NIGHTMARE. Upon first looking at this, I was
sort of befuddled as to what I was supposed to do.
Through trial and error I found out that these were
simply three separate animated menu sequences that
eventually all served the same purpose. You can
select a REALITY sequence that shows the
club techno sequence backed with techno music
dissolving into the MAIN MENU. Select DREAM
and softer music takes you through a lover's
paradise full of hope that dissolves into the
MAIN MENU. NIGHTMARE, backed by a pulsating
rock soundtrack, taking us through the film's most
nightmarish moments as it finally dissolves into
the MAIN MENU.
I must commend Artisan for a great effort in doing
some superb menu structures. Unfortunately, you
cannot switch between all of them on the fly. If
you want to see each individual sequence, you need
to eject the disc and let the initial menu reload.
The good news is that the DVD contains Audio
Commentary by actress Melissa Sagemiller (Cassie).
The bad news is that it is not a running commentary
nor a commentary that can be selected as a second
audio option. In fact, to hear the commentary, you
need to go to the SPECIAL FEATURES menu and look
at a few selected scenes that she opted to add her
own commentary to. The commentary is somewhat
interesting as Melissa talks about filming in a old
abandoned church with hundreds of extras, or how
they filled her ears and nose with red corn syrup
to show her bleeding.
The DVD's first featurette, Behind the Deathmask,
is a slickly produced four-minute behind-the-scenes
documentary that talks with all the major actors and
actresses, as well as selling us on the fact that
this is the most riveting suspense film of our time.
I was a bit perplexed as to what the second
featurette, Living Dangerously - the art of
Harvey Danger was all about. Well, Harvey
Danger is the band that has a song in the first few
minutes of the film. This humorous featurette
actually turns out to be a student film that
interviews a band that is pissed off that their music
was improperly presented in the film.
There are two Theatrical Trailersincluded
as well sneak peek trailers for 5 other Artisan
horror/suspense titles including Stir of Echoes,
a film I enjoyed more than this one and recommend
watching.
There are some interesting Animated Storyboards
that first play automatically against the audio
portion of the film, and then go into the actual
filmed sequence. It's an interesting look at how
a film is presented first in drawing to help the
Director visualize how the scene will look filmed.
There is a very nicely presented Cast and Crew
segment that forgoes just the usual simple list of who
did what, and instead tells us a little bit about
each actor through small story snippets. There are
nicely placed photos of the actors along with a list
of their past film and television achievements.
Final Thoughts
It's almost a shame. Artisan has gone to great
lengths to produce a rather nice Special Edition
DVD (with some flaws in the design), but based on
a movie that falls short of being everything it is
touted to be.
Soul Survivor manages to be entertaining,
but I think most fans of the horror genre will walk
away disappointed by its lack of punch.
Release Date: February 26, 2002
