52) My Soul To Keep (2019)

"My fear only makes it stronger. I know what it is. It's evil! And the evil I know has a name - the Bergly monster."

Director
Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad

Cast
Parker Smerek - Eli Braverman
Remington Gielniak - Sam
Arielle Olkhovsky - Hillary
Brandon Matthew Layne - Richard Braverman
Maria Wasikowski - Liz Braverman
Emmanuelle Torco - Emily Braverman


Eli Braverman, the main character in the 2019 family-oriented independent horror movie My Soul To Keep, stands for all kids in horror film and story history who know something unearthly living in their basement is waiting to "get" them.
The term "get" can mean an abundance of horrible possibilities - eating them whole, stealing their soul, kidnapping them to a dark realm where their parents will never find them, replacing them with a demonic double, tormenting them until they're driven crazy, or just killing them on the spot.
Eli is the kid in the horror movie trope of monsters in the darkest places of our safe, sweet home who decides enough is enough. He's taken the rivalry, that's often one-sided in favor the monster, and tries to turn the tables around.
This is so true as he faces the monster and lays things on the line.
"Get out of my house" he tells it. Eli doesn't yell. But there's no doubt whatsoever that he means it, or else.
Generally when the mustered fearlessness is the key to defeating an evil, it isn't enough to stop thr otherworldly creature. Kid or no kid, the monster here fights back.
I never heard of this movie until stumbling upon it on Hoopla. My horror movie library and lists of horror movies to watch is a bit scattered on various apps and notebooks. Something caught my eye with this movie's synopsis.
Eli (Parker Smerek) is convinced a demon or monster lives in his basement. It's a belief stemming from his vindictive and mean-spirited teenage sister, Emily (Emmanuelle Torco) who heard it from their dad.
Dad, Richard Braverman (Brandon Matthew Layne), claims it's just a story he believed as a kid, and it certainly isn't true.

Parker Smerek

But Eli is certain this monster, made of shadows, lives in the furnace and travels through the pipes to his room on a regular basis.
He keeps lights around his bed, ready to switch on, as he claims to have discovered it's afraid of the light just as kids are afraid of the dark.
Emily convinces Eli to share his story about the monster to his class, and he does. He calls it the 'Bergly monster'.
He tells his class this thing feeds on the souls of children. I guess Freddy Krueger started that motif. Now they're all doing it.
Of course, his class doesn't believe him. His friend, Sam (Remington Gielniak) and a girl named Hillary (Arielle Olkhovsky) are the only two who do.
Hillary takes to Eli rather quickly as she, too, claims to have been visited by the Bergly monster.
She attributes her survival to the prayer "Now I lay me down to sleep. I pray the Lord my soul to keep..." which she recites each night before bed.
Meanwhile, everyone else thinks Eli's monster is nothing more than a conglomeration of some unspecified issues Eli is trying to deal with, and his child-brain created this thing as a sort of coping mechanism.
As things build up through the movie, and tension builds between Eli and Emily, his parents leave him alone with his sister one night while they have themselves a date night.
Eli is scared to be left with his sister, who already has it in for him believing he's treated too leniently for uploading an embarrassing video of her on social media while she is treated harshly for making fun of his "issues."
Emily feigns forgiveness towards her brother as the parents leave for their date. They also ask Emily's boyfriend to "babysit" Emily, while Emily babysits Eli. And they ask Eli to be their "eyes and ears" as her boyfriend is with them.
But Emily ditches Eli, leaving him alone in the house while she and her boyfriend head to a party.
So, rather than sit alone for a few hours, terrified, Eli is going to take this thing by the shadowy horns and own it (figuratively speaking).
As My Soul To Keep uses all the classic tropes - parents out for the night, uncaring babysitter, haunted basement, and best friend who lives too far away - I had a suspicion this movie was going to be the same story told over and over again. In some cases, yes it was. But not exactly. It does something I haven't seen horror movies such as this do.
It blows the flames of the child versus monster element of the story. Movie producers really try to make it a serious face-off. Well, as serious as a family centered horror movie can.
There's so much talk and build up throughout the entire movie, I was expecting a poor and completely disappointing pay off in the end. I mumbled to myself a few times that "something better happen!"
But there is a pay off. A twist that left a little confusion for me to mull over. It's so intriguing, I want a sequel so I can find out what exactly happened. The ending wasn't so unclear that it was nonsensical. Rather, it left the story open for something much more intriguing and scary to happen. There's material enough for the audience to explore even more should a sequel be made. Otherwise, we're left to our own imagination and interpretation as to what exactly happened in the end.
Unfortunately, the characters are lacking qualities enough for the audience to invest their interest in them. Eli does have determination, bravery and these unspecified issues I mentioned, but that's all. Otherwise, everyone else is a cardboard cutout of typical horror characters. They're bland.
Often horror movies receive a sequel because audiences want more of their favorite monster. They want more time to closely watch the demon haunting their dreams. Facing the demon once wasn't enough. We need to face him again, and again, and again...maybe eight more times? Perhaps the fourth time really sucked, so lets try again. If the third time's a charm, what about the seventh time.
This is one movie that probably deserves a sequel. This rivalry needs to continue.

Remington Gielniak

My Soul To Keep feels like it was made as a big setup for something upcoming. The payoff is good, but sitting through an hour of premise building is irritating after a while. Still, the effort to make something enjoyable isn't lacking. It's very much there.
Director Ajmal Zaheer Ahmad has very few titles under his directorial belt, including the horror film Jinn. Based on this film, he seems to have a talent for story telling.
With My Soul To Keep, he leans towards a serious side while maintaining that family movie feel. Still, it has some moments that didn't allow me to turn away.
I'm interested in checking out his other movies.
It's time the child alone in his home takes the monster by it's tail and turns things around. My Soul To Keep pulled it off rather well. I'll keep my eyes peeled for a possible sequel. It's great for a family movie night. And I think there's potential for cult-classic status.