My Soul to Keep

Right, well I assumed that this was going to be a horror movie. Little did I know that it was a horror movie for the younger audience.

But with that being said, I have to say that it didn't make for a less entertaining movie. The movie was actually enjoyable and had an adequate storyline. Now, keep in mind that for adults the storyline wasn't scary, but I assume for the younger audience there is a sense of spook to be had here.

The pacing of the storyline was good, and there was a nice flow to the progression of the movie, without any real dull moments.

The acting in the movie was good, and they had some nicely talented actors and actresses to perform the various roles and characters. That definitely helped carry the movie.

Had I known that this was a 'scary' movie for the young audience I probably wouldn't have sat down to watch it. But I ended up watching, though my expectations for being in for a horror movie fell short.

All in all, "My Soul to Keep" scores a five out of ten stars from me. It was watchable, and it was entertaining enough for what it turned out to be. "My Soul to Keep" is a movie that would be suitable to put on if you have youngsters in the household for a Halloween movie marathon.

There's nothing wrong with this film, it's relatively well made but really shouldn't be categorised as horror, more a scary story for young children.

First and foremost, I want to comment that I feel that the movie is very well made. The cinematography, pacing, lighting, nice slow Classic camera movements and suspense, and most especially the acting, were truly all very well thought out, created, and executed.

Now, with that said though, this is a VERY different kind of film. As other reviewers have said, there is not a lot of what people think of as 'Horror' in the movie. But, what I feel makes it very engaging is that it is put together so well that the characters, suspense, and flow of the story do carry you along. If you are looking for anything extreme here or shocking, you will not find it. It IS pretty much written with a younger audience in mind. BUT... even so, I think that if you have a very active imagination, an almost 'childlike' one, then I think there is a good chance that you may really get caught up in it.

There are quite a few Horror films where young people of this age are featured that I find totally unbelievable, forced, unrealistically vulgar, and quite frankly very poorly done. Many of the critic's reviews were quite strong about this one, and in this case I agree with them.

Yes, the film is very vague as far as the 'Plot' or what is actually happening, but again, for me personally regardless of the Genre of the movie, what usually catches my attention is the quality and thought that are put into it and how well it is acted and put across. This is a VERY simple, low-key Horror film compared to a lot of the extreme stuff we see these days, so many here have indeed stated how 'Boring' the movie is and give it a '1' But, to me, that is not the point... If you want more exciting Horror, then fine... watch something with more punch to it; there are many excellent strong Horror films out there. But, that is not the focus of this one. This one is quite deliberately engineered to help the audience enter the mind of a child that age, and it works beautifully. That doesn't mean that you will necessarily be thrilled with the 'story' as it is, but the journey throughout is quite well worth it in my lowly and wretched opinion.

Probably most impressive, and many films these days do NOT have this quality, is that the acting was VERY realistic and believable. Far more believable than some very popular young people oriented shows on now. It never seems contrived or artificial, and also something that really made me smile several times, is the well placed but very simple humour in some of the throwaway lines. Many times, with young actors the writers try to make them seem 'smart' or 'clever', but end up way overdoing it making it come across as false. But, the writers / creators of this film interject just these few, genuinely funny low-key lines here and there which I feel really add to the overall enjoyment and engagement of the movie.

Again, a very low-key, simple Horror film geared towards young people. But, one that I truly feel is above average. With the right expectations and understanding of just what KIND of film this is, I think people who appreciate movies that are well done will find themselves more caught up in this story than they would have thought...

The nine year-old boy Eli (Parker Smerek) is lured by his teenager sister Emily (Emmanuelle Turco) and discloses to his school class that there is a Broughlin Monster in his basement that is afraid of the light. His parents Liz (Maria Wasikowski) and Richard Braverman (Brandon Matthew Layne) are summoned by the teacher that believes Eli has a psychological problem. Meanwhile Eli convinces his best friend Sam (Remington Gielniak) and his school mate Hillary (Arielle Olkhovsky) that the monster does exist. When his parents leave Eli with Emily babysitting him to go to a restaurant, she leaves her brother alone in the house and goes to a bar with her boyfriend Dominic (Jake Rotger). Soon Eli finds whether the monster is real or fruit of his imagination.

"My Soul to Keep" is a dramatic supernatural film open to interpretation. The acting is excellent and the plot holds the attention of the viewer. However the screenplay deserved improvements to make this original film a classic of the horror genre. Anyway it deserved to be watched. My vote is five.

Title (Brazil): Not Available

The major issue that most will have with this film is that it is sorely disappointing if you go into it expecting a horror/thriller/suspense movie. Not to be misunderstood, it DOES have elements of suspense; there are a couple of jump scares, and the concept might prove frightening for younger children--especially the last thirty minutes or so--but it is not a scary movie, in the greater sense. Rather, its plot is underpinned by disturbing themes that have been all but masked by the action. In a sense, it could be compared to the Stranger Things series but with less intrigue, tame imagery, and a weak plot. I would venture so far as to say even the Goosebumps television series was more suited to the genre.

That said, the film is a series of (not always tropes but) blatant cliches. Not to ruin it with spoilers, it seems even the writers acknowledged this through well-placed jokes about light bulbs, furnaces, and batteries. This isn't really a distraction from the movie, but some will find it predictable up through an ending that leaves you wondering... "what was the point of the last thirty minutes?" The plot is, otherwise, poorly constructed. There are a sundry of arbitrary devices and tangents that serve no real purpose and conflicts that are introduced but never resolved.

In the end, it's a pretty "meh" film, neither particularly interesting nor overly boring. The acting is great, and it's a movie that the whole family can watch (if not paying too much attention to the details.)