Soul to Keep

2019 • 94 minutes

About this movie

Millennials go upstate to an old farm house for a weekend of fun and get more than they bargain for... The gang, including a deaf friend with whom everyone signs, explores the homestead, discovering a hidden ritual room, complete with animal bones & vats of blood. While inebriated and high, they use a demonic spell book and unintentionally conjure up an ancient demon called Beelzebub who has an insatiable appetite for sexual mischief, violence, and soul consumption. This Prince of Hell takes demonic possession to a whole new evil level as the quest that started thousands of years ago to bring destruction on Earth is finally upon us.

Ratings and reviews

Soul to Keep takes an aspect of horror films that is typically mise-en-scene and transforms it into a really unique plot device: drugs. Just like any other slasher flick, the first thing on this group of teens’ to-do list is to get as wasted as possible. But instead of waking up the next day sober before battling a spirit, the horrors in Soul to Keep begin while they are inebriated. The weed, alcohol, and psychedelics impair their ability to discern reality from their drug-induced trips. Therefore, audiences are fearful for the demons that may or may not have been summoned. This is a highly effective spin on a now-cliche genre that produces scares that we are not accustomed to. I’ll be thinking twice about the next beer that I have in an abandoned house in the woods!

What happens in the darkness, stays in the darkness, at least that’s what one would hope, and unfortunately that’s not what happens in Soul to Keep. After a group of lifelong friends decide to go to a rundown country home of 2 of the group members deceased grandfather. The siblings have spent time at the house growing up as kids, but since the passing of their grandfather they had not been back. They knew it was going to be not in the best condition but upon arrival they were shocked at how actually let go of the place was. They were not going to let a little dirt and dust rain on their parade though, so the partying started as soon as they arrived. Once the drinks got pouring, they decided to explore the house a little and after seeing that the basement was locked, their curiosity went through the roof. When they were finally able to get down there they found a spell book which would potentially allow them to summon demons. They thought this was a joke so they decided to give it a try, little did they know it was not a joke. I highly recommend watching to find out what happens after they find the book.

There is a new and extremely unique horror film that has emerged to audiences as a fresh and contemporary take on the genre. “Soul to Keep” from director David Allensworth interlaces sign language with normal dialogue for the entirety of the film to add a phenomenal layer to the already terrifying direction. This group of close friends are out at a weekend retreat deep in the country at a remote cabin, but what they all discover in the basement complicates things with a satanic spell book and ritual triangle laced in blood. The character Tara’s deafness drives some of the more monumental scenes in the film which creates an original message of inclusion and normality of the condition.