Soul Survivors (2001)

A co-ed is caught between the world of the living and the dead.

Director:

Stephen Carpenter (as Steve Carpenter)

Writer:

Stephen Carpenter (as Steve Carpenter)

Stars:

Melissa Sagemiller, Wes Bentley, Casey Affleck

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Melissa Sagemiller	...	Cassie
Wes Bentley	...	Matt
Casey Affleck	...	Sean
Eliza Dushku	...	Annabel
Angela Featherstone	...	Raven
Luke Wilson	...	Jude
Allen Hamilton	...	Dr. Haverston
Ken Moreno	...	Hideous Dancer
Carl Paoli	...	Deathmask
Barbara E. Robertson	...	Margaret (as Barbara Robertson)
Richard Pickren	...	Ben
Candace Kroslak	...	Cool Blond (as Candace Kaye Kroslak)
Ryan Kitley	...	Young Cop
Rick Snyder	...	Father McManus
Danny Goldberg	...	Campus Cop

Storyline

College freshman Cassandra "Cassie" steps into a nightmare of otherworldly visitations after surviving a devastating car accident. Haunted by a grim reaper of a far different kind, her only hope is to cling to chance encounters with her lost love Sean and the aid of a mysterious young priest named Father Jude. It is the spirit of Sean, her soul mate, who guides her to love, but it is her friends Matt, Annabel and Annabel's morose friend Raven who try to draw her to the dark side.

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Plot Keywords:

supernatural horror | college | car accident | ghost | alternate reality | 

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Taglines:

The World of the Dead and the World of the Living... are About to Collide.

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Genres:

Horror | Mystery | Thriller

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Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated PG-13 for terror/violence, sexuality and some substance abuse

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

7 September 2001 (USA)

Also Known As:

Alucinação

Filming Locations:

625 Haven Street, Evanston, Illinois, USA

Box Office

Budget:

$17,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend USA:

$1,140,698, 9 September 2001

Gross USA:

$3,111,545

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$4,299,141

Company Credits

Production Co:

Lost Soul Productions, Original Film

Technical Specs

Runtime:

84 min

Sound Mix:

DTS Dolby Digital SDDS

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

James Marsden turned down the role of Sean in favor of the part of Scott Summers/Cyclops in X-Men (2000).

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Goofs

A crewmember is reflected in a big mirror in Cassie's room.

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Quotes

Raven: Love these unisex Bathrooms.

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Alternate Versions

The Video and DVD releases include the unedited "R" rated version (called 'the Killer Cut'), featuring:

• A different opening to the movie. This establishes how the scarred and masked men are killers. They attack a girl named Kathy who leaves a party. She has the same symbol that is stamped onto her hand as Cassie and the others. The killers grab her, throw her to the ground, tape her mouth shut, and then slit her wrists, squeezing the blood out of the cut.
• A briefly shown scene of a girl with a see-through top at the Rave party. The brief sex scene between Cassie and Sean is stronger. It shows her remove her top(facing away from the camera).
• The lesbian scene between Annabel and Raven is stronger too. They are shown kissing more graphically (licking each others tongues), and then Annabel rips open Raven's shirt which shows her breasts to the camera. Annabel then very briefly caresses Raven's breasts before running away.
• Cassie opens up a locker to find that her dinosaur that she grabbed in the beginning has been decapitated with blood all over the inside of the locker and on the dinosaur's head and body.
• The scene where Cassie is chased by the killer has more blood. After she has smashed the light bulb over the killers' head and gotten grabbed by him again, she plunges the light bulb through his stomach and it shows it come out the other side. Lots of blood then pours out of the tube onto the ground.
• The scene where Cassie dreams that the drill goes near her head has been made longer. It actually shows the drill go into her head, which causes blood to come out.
• The scene where Annabel and Raven are in the bathroom at the Rave has more to it. When Cassie enters the bathroom, a guy runs out of the stall where Cassie and Raven are. Then when Cassie looks around the corner to see whats gong on in the stall, Annabel is standing up with her legs spread to Raven. Raven brings her head back from being close to between Annabel's legs, and says "love these unisex bathrooms".
• 4 uses of the word "fuck": (2 from Annabel in the bar, 1 from Cassie in the bar, 1 from Matt inside a car, outside of the Rave).
• An alternate ending in which Cassie wakes up besides Sean and sits up in bed, grabbing her chest/neck and gasping for breath. Sean then sits up and asks her "That dream again?" to which she nods yes.

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Connections

References Carnival of Souls (1962)

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Soundtracks

The Goodbye Letter
Written by Trevor Tuminski and Dave Swiecicki
Performed by Jet Set Satellite
Courtesy of Nettwerk Productions

User Reviews

It's been 6 years since it's release, and I'm still confused!

Like many, I was expecting an entirely different movie from what was shown on the previews for Soul Survivors - but sadly, got something else. It was released to theatres (shockingly) in 2002. It's now 2008 and I'm still kind of stumped.

The movie has enough ingredients to make it a slasher/horror hit, but it's just too confusing - and mind twisting for it's own good. Don't go thinking I'm dumb. I do get the story, it's just....the way it was portrayed was, well, horrible. The movie has too many flashbacks and hinted twists that you end up racking your brain, thinking what the hell is going on. Now, I love a movie were I have to use my head, but this just takes the cake. They quickly ditched the "stalker" idea more than a quarter into the movie and focused more on the lead female having flashbacks and thinking she was insane. It just went down the drain from there.

It's sad though as the cast are very talented. Plus the movie had a cool, horror vibe setting. So why the bad script? All I know is, when you see the poster for the movie + trailer, you think you're going to get a totally different movie.

All in all it was a disappointment. The only reason I sorta enjoyed it was because of the gorgeous Eliza Dushku. But for non Eliza fans, I would take a pass on this one!