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Eight lifelong friends - deaf Tara (Sandra Mae Frank), her boyfriend
Josh (Tony Spitz), his sister Erin (Aurora Heimbach), her best friend
Grace (Kate Rose Reynolds), Grace's boyfriend Brandon (Jordan Theodore),
slightly weird Freddy (Craig Fogel), musician Toby (Derek Long) and
down-to-earth Kimberly (Jessie Jordan) - travel to the cabin deep in the
woods of the deceased grandpa (Brian Donovon) of one of them to do what
kids of their age are supposed to do: party with tons of drugs and alcohol
and without any grownup control. They also find a book of spells in the
basement next to some magic symbols painted on the floor, and Erin pretty
much insists they try out a spell ... and at first it seems to do nothing
but freaking everyone out a bit - but while the others have already left
the basement, Grace stays a bit too long and becomes host to the demon
Beelzebub. And as Grace, Beelzebub has no problems seducing Freddy and
making him her minion, and soon the others start to fall as well, until
only Tara, Erin and Josh are left, and Josh makes the fatal decision to
take on Grace on his own - bad idea without the right weaponry. So it
seems all is lost for the girls, but there's more to the story than meets
the eye ...
Soul to Keep is a really fun little genre movie, a
successful blend of possession flick and survival horror, and while up to
a point the film plays strictly along genre lines, it's kept interesting
but a cast of fleshed out characters one actually can care about. But the
movie gets a real boost in the third act, when much of what happened so
far is turned on its head and some rather unique reveals are made that in
turn have an impact on the resolution of the movie. On top of that, the
inclusion of a deaf person as one of the gang really works as it's not
just a gimmick or a sign of political correctness but her condition is
actually used for narratie effect -and that Sandra Mae Frank gives a
strong performance of course doesn't hurt either, but the same goes for
the rest of the ensemble. Very solid genre entertainment for sure.
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