Review of My Soul to Take (2010) by Anders H — 25 Jul 2011

This newest film from Horror Maestro Wes Craven interested me because this was the first film that he has written and directed since he did the underrated New Nightmare back in 1994. I was interested to see what he would do next and then I heard about this film back when it was called 25/8. The title doesnâ(TM)t spark any kind of enthusiasm until the title was changed to My Soul to Take, which I have to say has a more sinister tone to it. The movie was released last year in 2010 to negative reviews and disappointing box office results. People criticised the movie as well as the 3D aspect. I thought it didnâ(TM)t need to be converted. I saw this film because Iâ(TM)m a fan of Wes Cravenâ(TM)s movies most notably the Scream films as well as the original Nightmare on Elm Street. I have to say despite the negative reviews and all the bad things audiences said about it, I enjoyed it. Ok it wasnâ(TM)t amazing and itâ(TM)s not up there with his greats but it was an entertaining movie with an interesting story that at times felt a bit underdeveloped but it was a good movie and it still shows Wes Craven still can make audiences scared. I jumped a few times and I thought it was a pretty tense movie.

The interesting thing about Wes Craven is that he didnâ(TM)t have any aspirations to be a filmmaker. He was an English teacher before he was a filmmaker and back in 1972 he released his first film, which was the highly controversial The Last House on the Left, which I have still yet to see. I have on the other hand seen the remake. This movie shocked audiences and was subsequently banned for a long time. Since then he has made many shocking movies that have gone on to be cult favourites like The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare on Elm Street, the Scream films, The People under The Stairs, Red Eye and Shocker. He is really good at doing movies. I think he is one of the best horror filmmakers next to George A Romero, Eli Roth and John Carpenter. My Soul to Take was the first script he has written since 1994 when New Nightmare was released. The movie has the same sort of Craven trademarks. Itâ(TM)s set in a small fictional town, about a serial killer with a big knife and scary costume, itâ(TM)s about a group of teenagers you know the usual kind of Craven horror movie. The movie is about seven teenagers who were all born prematurely on the same night the infamous town serial killer; The Riverton Ripper met his demise. The kids of Riverton make his death day an anniversary and believe he may return. But strange things start happening when a serial killer meeting the Ripperâ(TM)s description pops up and starts killing people, mainly the Riverton seven. Did he die that night? Is he still alive? Or is his soul living in the body of the one the seven? The film does have an interesting and slightly creepy supernatural plot but Wes Craven didnâ(TM)t really work on the plot too well as it is a little ambiguous and confusing to most people. I like that the Ripper is some sort of schizophrenic multiple personality kind of dude but I think the movie almost falls apart when Craven tries to be really clever. If he made the plot a little bit simpler maybe we would of course made a routine slasher film but I think it would have been a bit better then it was. I did like the slightly supernatural part of the film and it did keep me guessing to whether the guy is a ghost or heâ(TM)s some sort of hermit living under a bridge. The idea of him being this folkloric kind of guy was really a good plot point as America is full of those folkloric kinds of stories. I started recently reading a book about spooky stories in Massachusetts, which is pretty creepy so far.

When I was watching My Soul to Take, I felt like this was a tiny bit familiar in the way that the elements of the movie reminded me of Wes Cravenâ(TM)s earlier films. It didnâ(TM)t bother me that much but I couldnâ(TM)t stop noting the similarities between them. I think he hadnâ(TM)t written a script for so long that he had to sort of go back and look at his other movies to get ideas. I think he was trying to find ways to make the movie scary that it made him not flesh out the plot to itâ(TM)s full potential, which is what a film always needs. He tries to make the movie clever and add a few twists and turns but at the end of movie your still going to be scratching your and head and wondering what the fuck, is the Ripper alive or not? I didnâ(TM)t think the script made me hate the movie; I enjoyed listening to his dialogue on screen and enjoying the teenage characters that inhabit his movies. The characters were slightly one dimensional but there were a few that were exceptional like Max Theiriot who played Bug Hellerman, the troubled teen who may have inherited the Ripperâ(TM)s personality and spends most of the movie getting his ass kicked and getting the finger pointed at him. I thought Max played the character well. Maybe Craven will have better luck next time.

This movie is not a failure in any way and I enjoyed it for itâ(TM)s supernatural plot, itâ(TM)s scares and thrills and some of its interesting characters. Go buy the movie if you are a Craven fan and also buy Scream 4 when it comes out on DVD in August, as it was awesome. Take care now.

A.H.