Beelzebub, a powerful demon hell-bent to possess and consume souls, goes after siblings and their lifelong friends at a rundown country house.

At times like this, one might think that every lesson has been learned when it comes to finding books lined in human skin and containing satanic texts that should never be spoken out loud. Despite the myriad of consequences that are known, some still make the same mistake in thinking that it can be fun to experience a demonic possession, even when that mistake can be seen as a replica or copy of other stories.

Soul To Keep (2018) is something else. It cannot be described as a cabin-in-the-woods supernatural slasher horror film because it’s not. It falls under the secluded-farm supernatural drama, if such genre exists. The film tells the story of two twin siblings whom invite a few friends to spend the weekend in the house of their late grandfather. Once installed, they decide to have their own party filled with alcohol, drugs, a DJ booth, lights, and a beautiful uncredited red balloon, until they discover what’s underneath the house and a very horny demon is unleashed.

The film brings typical characters that you can find in a classic horror movie: the innocent girl, the unbearable friend, the daring girl, the brave young man, the sportsman, and the covert villain. The characters are so common that sometimes the stereotype becomes absurd for a movie in this category. Sometimes the characters seem to have no purpose, even if they have been described with a background story that doesn’t motive anyone to root for them.

A positive aspect of the film is its attempt to propose the inclusion of characters with different abilities. In this case, a deaf girl was added to the mix. The spectator will be able to admit how impressive it is to see a cast that supports this as they do some of the dialogue in sign language. Why is it so impressive? Considering that the characters couldn’t care less about the whereabouts of each of their friends, this seems like a very nice touch. It is even more impressive the weight they give to her character towards the outcome of the story that, by the way, is tangled and rushed; it is unexpected and incoherent if we consider the development of the plot.

From beginning to end, the film lacks a logical explanation to why everything is happening. The opening credits, where half of the budget seems to have gone to, can mislead you to believe a certain plot; it shows hand-drawn historical events that have been allegedly influenced by demons. But, then again, it has no actual meaning for the story.

Soul To Keep tries too hard to bring a new proposal to the supernatural sub-genre while replicating previously seen stories and formats. But sometimes trying to do something different can bring negative results when there are no substantial elements to support it.