Evengyny Thanks for the memories!

BootDigest Such a frustrating disappointment

VeteranLight I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

Teringer An Exercise In Nonsense

Comeuppance Reviews Natalie McMillan (Schilling) is the "rich girl" in her small town, and Zach Taylor (Thomsen) is the poor local mechanic. Before this West Side Story/Romeo & Juliet-like romance can get off the ground, their buddy Brad Deville (Fralick), who appears to be a cross between a lunkhead and a meathead, drives drunk and they all die (?) - but before "The Man" (Estevez) can collect their souls, they realize what's going on and they all run away from The Man and his partner (again a ?), Angel of Death (Z'Dar). This race between life and death intensifies because Natalie reminds The Man of a woman he used to love in a past life. Who will win - those who collect the souls of the recently deceased, or mulleted, 37 year old teens on the run? Okay, we all know Soultaker was famously tackled by the MST3K guys. Let's try and put that aside for a moment, if possible, and realize that it is indeed AIP April once again, so we have to put in our two cents as well. Rather than mercilessly bash the poor movie, we choose to dwell on the positive: the first half. Any scenes with Brad Deville - and David "Shark" Fralick does indeed look like a dude named Brad Deville - are gold. The "Summerfest" sequences provide solid entertainment/laughs/80's nostalgia, and the presences of Robert Z'Dar and Joe Estevez are comforting and familiar. To see them working and walking together as an "afterlife team" was pretty cool. And we applaud the effort all around, even if the final result is (pleasantly?) amateurish. But that's what we look for. Not everything has to be absolutely perfect and we cherish the quirks. But it's not all a Summerfest bash… The second half of the movie is boring, dull, and repetitive. Even the powerhouse team of Z'Dar with his unintelligible electronically-lowered voice and Joe Estevez with his black guyliner can't remedy that. Their characters are supposed to be menacing because of these things, not to mention their black coats. They also disappear and reappear quickly thanks to what can only be described as "Blip-cuts". There's also a green special effect that will remind you not of Slimer from Ghostbusters, but of his Hi-C Ecto-Cooler. Zach Thomsen gives Billy Warlock a run for his money, and Vivian Schilling, interestingly enough, is credited with screenplay/story on the film.So as a glimpse of the end of the acid-washed 80's, with plenty of 80's coolguys and coolgirls and their various fashions, Soultaker has some value for that reason alone. Pounding, generic 80's rock/metal seems central to their lives, though the end credits song, "Somewhere in Paradise" by Karen Lawrence, would seem to contradict that. Yet again we have a movie of two halves - the first being better, of course - but it's largely sunk by the dull second half.

AngryChair When teenage couple are in a car wreck their souls become dislocated from their bodies and they must flee from the grim reaper!Imagineative premise and entertaining plot uplift this B thriller. The story is intriguing enough with some nicely done chills and a twist or two. The direction of Michael Rissi is well-handled, creating some occasional spooky atmosphere and suspense. The rock soundtrack isn't bad either.The stars are pretty good. Joe Estevez is menacing as our villainous title character. Young leads Vivian Schilling and Gregg Thomsen are fetching and turn in pretty good performances.Over all, Soultaker is a decent late-night watch.** 1/2 out of ****

zerocool5856 I find it funny that the director would actually come on IMDb and post his feelings on MST3k's take on his movie, and yet completely overlook the fact that his movie might've just been bad. Not the worst that I've ever seen (I'm afraid Carnosaur has that distinction), but let's face it; it wasn't that great either. I will admit that the cinematography was actually pretty decent, and that the locations were actually pretty nice. As for the actual story, script, dialogue, casting, actors, acting, and that sort of thing, the movie falls flat. Why don't I pick it apart? The story isn't good. The writer obviously wrote the story as a self-congratulatory piece, one in which she is apparently the beautiful center of the universe. There's nothing exactly original about it, it's been done before, and, without giving anything away, it's been done BETTER before.The script is just awful. Dialogue is stilted, motivations are never very clear, and it's clear that this was a first or second attempt by the writers. Please correct me if I'm wrong, or at least surprise me by proving me otherwise. This is like a student film written by freshmen that should never have been marketed.Casting was also pretty bad. There's some sort of class conflict between the lovelorn pair, but it's barely believable. One is the mayor's daughter and the other didn't go to college in a Southern town. Oh, the scandal! It's just like Romeo and Juliet or West Side Story except the characters are so shallow and one-dimensional that you don't really care whether they get together or not. On top of that, the two principal actors are not cast very well, at least insofar as she's upper class and he's working class.The acting's pretty flat. Robert Z'Dar is, of course, deep-throated and mythical, and I like him in a campy, not good movie sort of way. He generally shines in whatever narrow confines he's given. The same is with the other Estevez, who appears to be a decent actor who never really got a fair shake. The rest, well, I fear that they were either summer stock or newbies to the acting scene, because their acting was either very affected, over-the-top campy, or missing. Watching some scenes was more like watching a live performance of Das Boot by Miss Newsome's 8th grade class; actors would obviously forget lines, botch them, or improv them unconvincingly. If they actually stuck to the script, BOY would I be surprised.Skip this one. Please, save yourself two hours to crochet a beer cozy or solve a kitten puzzle or kick dogs, but don't abuse yourself with a movie like this. Even with Robert Z'Dar.

lovelyrita60 I was reading the user comments today, and I wanted to respond to the person who said that basically people who watched Mystery Science Theater 3000 were Trekkie nerds. First of all, I don't think they have much of a sense of humor. Second, I'm someone who doesn't like most science fiction shows. I have never been a fan of Star Trek and Battlestar Galactica, but that doesn't mean I'm gonna rag on people who are fans of these types of shows. Also, I will say that I did not hate this movie. I respect that a woman could break through and write a screenplay, even though starring in it shows a big ego, I believe. I'll admit at the beginning Joe Estevez scared the bejesus out of me. But during MST3K, I thought Crow's comments were hilarious! The best thing he said was, "You may be wondering if I'm Martin Sheen. Well, I'm not. I'm his more talented but less appreciated brother, Joe Estevez. Thank you." I'm not sure if that;s the exact quote, but I think it's pretty close. This sounds nerdy, but in closing, I don't think MST's fan base is made of Trekkie nerds and I appreciate people who have a sense of humor, for highbrow and/or lowbrow comedy.