Soultaker is a 1990 American fantasy horror film written by Vivian Schilling and directed by Michael Rissi.
It stars Joe Estevez in the title role, alongside Vivian Schilling, Gregg Thomsen, Chuck Williams, Robert Z'Dar, and David "Shark" Fralick.
The film follows a group of young adults who try to flee from the titular "Soultaker" when their souls are ejected from their bodies after a car accident.
Inspired by discussions with Action International Pictures producer Eric Parkinson, the script was based on a real-life car accident which Schilling was involved in.
A sequel was planned, and actors such as James Earl Jones and Faye Dunaway were named for the cast, but the film was never made and Schilling turned its premise into a novel which was titled Quietus, published in 2002.
Candice dies instantly while Natalie, Brad, Zack, and Tommy fall comatose as their souls leave their bodies.
Appearing again, the Soultaker tries to claim Natalie's soul, but her resemblance to his past lover, whom he killed in his former life, stays his hand.
Meanwhile, Zack learns from a live television announcement from Natalie's father Mayor Grant (David Fawcett) that their life support systems will be turned off at midnight.
Soultaker was written by Vivian Schilling, who was inspired to write the film after discussions with Action International Pictures producer Eric Parkinson.
Her previous acting credits included Fred Olen Ray's science fiction film Prison Ship and a nurse in the soap opera General Hospital.
[1][3] Originally reluctant to direct, Rissi decided to join after being interested in filming a movie involving parallel universes.
[3] Schilling later wrote an article for the magazine about a scene added by investors and the film crew, in which she was asked to appear naked.
Los Angeles Times writer Mark Chalon Smith unfavorably compared Soultaker to 1968's Night of the Living Dead, both of which were made with a small budget.
[13] Variety's Larry Cohn spoke positively about Soultaker, writing that its portrayal of the afterlife was more consistent than the 1990 Academy Award-winning film Ghost.
[14] Time Out called the film a "micro-budget variation on Ghost", criticizing the special effects and Michael Rissi's direction but praising Vivian Schilling for her work.
[15] Michael Dare of Billboard directed praise towards the film in his review, calling it a "good looking, low-budget fantasy thriller", though he noted the cast's overacting and the movie's transformation into "several layers of advanced silliness" after the Angel of Death's introduction.
[17] In his 2011 book Horror Films of the 1990s, John Kenneth Muir gave the movie two stars, noting the "apparent egotism" Schilling had, being both the screenwriter and lead.
Producers planned to cast James Earl Jones and Faye Dunaway in one iteration of the production, and Donald Sutherland was also in talks.
[19][21] Soultaker was featured in the tenth-season premiere episode of Mystery Science Theater 3000 (MST3K), a comedy television series whose premise is that the character Mike Nelson and his two robot friends Crow T. Robot and Tom Servo are forced to watch bad films as part of an ongoing scientific experiment.
Club called it one of the most essential episodes, opining that Joel Hodgson's appearing in it was a "stamp of approval" for the show after he left its production.
[25] Jim Vorel for Paste ranked it as the 44th best in the entire series, calling the film an "overdramatic vanity project from the starlet/screenwriter" and praising the episode both for its riffing and for its host segments.
[28] Charles Bramesco for The Dissolve cited both Soultaker and later MST3K "experiment" Future War for increasing the popularity of Robert Z'Dar.
Factory released the MST3K episode as part of the "Volume XIV" DVD collection of the series, along with The Mad Monster, Manhunt in Space, and Final Justice.