n the eve of her first year in college, Cassie (Sagemiller) and her friends decide to take in a new goth rave on the edge of town. The evening is really a chance for Cassie to say goodbye to her ardent boyfriend, Sean (Affleck), who foresees a future with her even though she's going off to school 2,000 miles away. Unknown to her, ex-boyfriend Matt (Bentley) still pines for Cassie. But that doesn't seem to affect Matt's current squeeze and Cassie's best friend, the spirited Annabel (Dushku), who just wants to dance.
The rave takes place in an abandoned church. Writhing bodies and hammering music soon drive the foursome back outdoors, where Sean finally declares his love for Cassie. She is unable—or unwilling—to reciprocate. But before she can say anything, Matt makes his own feelings known to Cassie. They kiss—and Sean catches them. On the drive home, Cassie is at the wheel, but trying desperately to explain herself to Sean. Better she should be watching the road. A group of ravers in an old car suddenly spins out ahead of them in the rain. Cassie can't stop, and their SUV careens off the road.
All survive—except Sean. After the funeral, Cassie returns to school. But she's now haunted by guilt. And, perhaps, by Sean. She sees him in her sleep, out of the corner of her eye. She tries to tell Annabel, who doesn't believe it. But Annabel's new friend, Raven (Angela Featherstone), does. "He's afraid," she tells Cassie ominously. "You're in trouble."
There's more. Cassie begins to see a mysterious masked man from the rave, apparently stalking her. Or does she? Matt decides to drop out of Harvard to come and care for Cassie. But he doesn't believe her either. "You're all that matters," he tells her, with a creepy smile. Cassie's only friend turns out to be a kindly priest, Father Jude (Wilson). But he's not what he appears to be either. Soon, Cassie begins to feel her life's in danger. Who is this person who appears to be her dead lover?
Delivering the derivative and dull
Soul Survivors—the directorial debut of writer Carpenter, last known for co-writing the Martin Lawrence caper comedy Blue Streak—has had at least six different release dates and is opening nearly a year after originally intended. The movie debuted over the weekend, with no advance press and no review screenings, after reportedly being re-shot and re-cut to drop its rating to a teen-friendly PG-13 from its original R. Now that the movie's finally out, it's apparent why Artisan is acting as though it wants to forget this film was ever made.
Though it carries the name of teen-thriller producer Neil H. Moritz (Urban Legend), Soul Survivors is actually more a blood relative of psychological thrillers such as Jacob's Ladder, The Others and The Sixth Sense. But this spook story winds up being only the palest specter by comparison.
The main problem, as usual, is the script, whose derivative story meanders for much of the movie on its way to a not-very-surprising ending. Events feel random and illogical. Throughout the film, Cassie ping-pongs from her apartment to her classroom to the girls' locker room to a bar, with no apparent rhyme or reason, except to set up scary sequences that are nonetheless completely predictable and devoid of suspense. One moment, a character says she's not going back to college; the very next scene, she's sitting in a classroom. In one scene, Annabel catches Cassie and Matt in a compromising position and storms out; a few scenes later, they're all sharing a beer as if nothing had happened.
On top of this, the film drags through much of the second act, owing to a peculiar affectation: Characters will play out a scene, then breathlessly tell another character in detail what the audience has just witnessed. This happens several times. At the very beginning of the movie, the four principal characters pull up in front of the rave, which is going full bore in a huge, neo-gothic building with spires, stained glass and a huge crucifix. Later, Cassie observes, "Oh, we're in a church!" Aaargh!
