Review for My Soul To Take

My Soul to Take follows the story of the Rivington Ripper. A man, diagnosed schizophrenic who killed a number of people before going crazy and killing his pregnant wife before he is stopped by the police. It is not known whether he died or whether he actually escaped. On the night this happens seven children are born and are seen as connected by the horrible tragedy. The kids are your usual carbon cut outs, the jock, the religious nut, the geek and his best friend and the disabled child (in this case blind) and the girl of the geek's dreams. The geek called Bug by everyone is the main focus on the film who is trying to come to terms with his life, bullied by his sister, completely ignored by the girl he loves (despite the much hotter religious girl liking him) and only having one friend Alex. On the Sixteenth Anniversary of their births and the 'death' of the Ripper, it seems someone or something is killing them off one by one, but only one of them will realize why this happening and how to stop it.

My Soul to Take was created by Wes Craven. Wes Craven. Man behind A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Hills Have Eyes, the Scream series. This is a man who knows how to do horror and more importantly knows how to make it thoughtful, clever, unique and more importantly enjoyable. This film? This film wasn't created by the Wes Craven I know. This film feels like Craven (who is solely responsible for this film as writer and director) just took the basic ingredients of every Teen Slasher (Frightened Teenagers, a Myth covered up by people, a finite number of children who need to be killed and a twist at the end) and just mixed them into a pot to create this unimaginative movie. Characters are not developed and so when we see that Alex is a victim of violent abuse by his stepfather it is never established that's who he is and so I have no idea how to feel about it as the scene plays out like it is a big brother bullying him. It is true that at least 70% of a Horror film cast are totally disposable, but that does not mean that they don't need developing. How can I care about a character dying if you won't let me? Half the cast seem to die in the space of twenty minutes and that just leaves the remaining characters to muddle through the ending which is one of the most convoluted and stupidly complicated that I have ever watched. By the end I wasn't sure what was going on, much less cared.

Extras include delete and extended scenes that I honestly don't know why they bothered shooting in the first place, an alternative opening which is actually better than the one they went with and two alternative endings which make no sense what so ever and a commentary. If I'm honest I got bored part way through the commentary conducted by Wes Craven accompanied by a number of the actors as they did not seem to have anything of interest to say. There are some stories that they tell about the creation and what the part meant, but really nothing held my interest.

My Soul to Take is not Wes Craven's best film, it's certainly not his worst, it just exists in a middle ground of banality. If Craven hadn't created the film I doubt anyone would have noticed it amidst the general glut of teen horror and remakes that are being made these days. Craven is so much better than this and hopefully the upcoming Scream 4 proves this to be true.