In the production notes to Soul Survivors, reference is made to The Sixth Sense and from the opening moments of the movie, it's easy to see why. Four college kids are involved in a hideous crash and one of them; Sean (Affleck) dies in the crash. His girlfriend, Cassie (Sagemiller) is finding difficult to cope with her loss, and her two best friends Matt (Bentley) and Annabel (Dushku) are acting strangely in the light of the tragic events. A few weeks after the accident, Cassie starts college, but can't shake the feeling that Sean is still with her. Although the Sixth Sense influence is hideously apparent (or should that be transparent?) Steve Carpenter's movie is bereft of the characterisation and nuance of M. Night Shyamalan's opus. Less of a narrative driven effort than a collection of barely related dramatic incidents mired in the clichés of horror, Soul Survivors lacks a sense of direction and drive. In short, it's not very good. Or indeed, scary.
