Soultaker: O Ladrão de Almas

"Soultaker" is not a good film--that I won't even try to argue. However, I know bad films and currently have reviewed more bad films than anyone on the planet. And, compared to the many, many horrible movies I've subjected myself to, it just isn't THAT bad. So why, then, is it currently #40 on IMDb's infamous Bottom 100 List. In other words, of the thousands and thousands and thousands of eligible films on the site, only 39 have a lower overall score than this one! This means it's horrible, right? No. This means it was featured on "Mystery Science Theater 3000" and fans of the show assumed it was horrible because it was on the show. Sometimes movies on "MST3000" are bad or sub-par and that is all. This would also explain why "Girl With the Gold Boots" is also on the list, even though it's among the director's BEST! Too often people just assume the films they make fun of are that bad--but seeing it without the running comments reveals that SOME of the film isn't bad- -such as the main plot idea.

The plot is VERY simple. A total jerk is driving like a nut and wrecks his car--killing himself and the three others in the car. As their bodies are lying dead in the wreck, the souls of the four are alive and well and walking about--though no one can see them. Soon, a guy who looks almost exactly like an old version of Emelio Estevez shows up and starts sucking souls out of the four bodies. He dispatches one but stops when he sees the girl--she is the reincarnation of a girl he loved when he was alive--before he became a grim reaper! During his hesitation, the three manage to escape and run from him. This is funny, as Estevez' character NEVER runs and they constantly run--yet he always catches up to them--just like the guy from Halloween!! Can the three manage to elude the reaper and manage to be reunited with their bodies?

The film is funny to watch because of the clothes, BIG hair and styles of 1990. And, the acting isn't very good. And, it's a chance to see Joe Estevez, the black sheep of the Sheen/Estevez clan because he is a politically conservative guy--unlike his older brother Martin Sheen. But the idea of the plot is interesting--even if most of the rest of it isn't. Not bad enough to make any worst of list--but bad enough to laugh at and marvel at the amateurish way it was made.

Okay, to be fair this movie did have an interesting concept. Given a few script rewrites, some decent actors and a budget, this might have been a fairly decent cult flick instead of the MST3K fodder it turned out to be.

Still, it was better than "Armageddon."

Soultaker is better than the average MST3K fodder. It is a B+ movie. A movie that has a pretty decent premise, but falls short on execution. Much like some of Roger Corman's work, it just misses being better than it's budget.

Let's start with the one positive and interesting concept of the movie: You aren't truly 'dead' until a soultaker / angel of death catches you.

That being said, here's the negative: 1)The Soultaker's are pretty much inept. They seemingly can't catch you even though you're dead. 2) They need to get right next to your "not alive but not quite dead" body in order to use their soul-sucking condom device. 3) The seemingly all powerful god-of-soultaker's just sits around while his lackey continually fails. 4) The lackey Soultaker even fails when disguised as the victims own mother?!?

These are just a small sample of problems with the script.... not even to mention the acting issues. However, I still must give credit to the young star/screenwriter Vivian, she did a better job here (in her early 20's at the time) than many "moviemakers" do their whole careers....

After seeing both the original version and the MST3K version, I can recommend both. The original version can be very much appreciated as an ambitious attempt by a young screenwriter to do something different. The MST3K version can be enjoyed simply as a movie with poor execution being rediculed...

Now I did watch this when it first came out on VHS, and all my friends and I thought it was a pretty good movie, but then again, we were teenagers. But honestly, not that good of a movie in retrospect. Sort of a hair metal, Dokken version of Carnival of Souls. But a bad movie does not exactly mean it is unwatchable; however, this one seems to lack the charm a lot of the regular Mst3k fodder usually contains. But if it was on cable, and I was bored and drinking beer--sure, I'd watch it again. But then again, I've watched Howling VII about five times now, so maybe you really shouldn't be listening to me.

Anyone else think it kind of sad that the director supposedly commented on his own movie? And why did he feel the urge to use caps lock so much?

OK, I saw this film through Mystery Science Theater 3000, but I did see the movie, so I figured I would leave a comment on it. I just love once again how Joe gets stuck with the crummy roles while his brother and nephew's are just getting the Oscar winning roles left and right. Soultaker is technically what you would call the movie that was meant to be good. It seemed like the director and actors just took this movie extremely seriously and had very cheesy effects, a story that didn't make much sense, and not to mention pretty crummy acting abilities. This is one of my favorite MST3K episodes, simple because a lot of what they mention is what we are thinking throughout the film and I'll explain why in a moment.

Natalie and Zach are a couple who broke up and are now trying to work things over. But since Zach is in upper lower class and Natalie is in middle class, it just ain't gonna work. But on the way home, they and Zach's friends get into a car accident and now the angel of death/Soultaker is after them to meet his quota of soultaking. But also it seems like he's had some kind of other life relationship with Natalie and just can't seem to move on. So now Natalie and Zach must race against the ever appearing five million times a minute clock to save their souls and lives.

Well, I guess Zeppelin was wrong when he sang that there was a stairway to Heaven, I wonder if Black Sabbith was wrong too, lol. Basically there are a lot of plot holes in this movies, like no one can see the characters and they can't be killed, yet somehow they can still press buttons and open doors? The Angel of Death had a very strange face and was a bit distracting from the story itself. Soultaker was just a lousy film that was rushed and makes you just feel so bad for Joe, the under-appreciated Sheen/Estovez brother.

2/10