Written and Directed by Wes Craven.
Starring Max Thieriot, John Magaro and Denzel Whitaker.
SYNOPSIS:
Sixteen years after his murderous rampage, the Riverton Ripper has seemingly returned to Riverton, with the seven children born the day he died in his sights. But does one of the seven hold the key to stopping him?
Wes Craven had fallen on hard times of late, having not directed a film since 2005's Cillian Murphy starrer Red Eye. But with the recent buzzings and even more recent actual confirmations that yes, he's helming a return to the franchise that remade him in the 1990s, the Scream films, it seemed strange that he should use this as a stop-gap before embarking on Scream 4. While it apparently did receive a release in January, in 3D no less, I was entirely unaware of My Soul To Take prior to its DVD release.
Wisely dropping the '3D' from it's title, (while horror, I feel, is particular suited to 3D, it seems a post-Clash of the Titans audience is more picky with its 3D conversions) My Soul To Take instead relies on the reputation of Craven to sell itself. Thankfully, genre fans will not be disappointed.
Craven introduces us to the night of the Ripper's initial slaughter with confidence and panache, blending smart direction with enjoyable silliness (the Ripper's deep 'scary' voice is particular amusing). We then fast-forward to the present day where we meet the 'Riverton Seven', the teenagers born the night the ripper died.
While the majority of the young cast is perfectly adequate for horror, lead 'Bug' (Max Thieriot) is distressingly wooden, his 'schizophrenic moments' being particularly badly handled, relying on a rather basic stereotyping of the condition in an attempt to unsuccessfully build character. The other (though less severe) cast issue I found was that the relationships being portrayed, that of sixteen-year-olds in high school, are rather young for the target audience for the film, the average 20-30 horror aficionado, to relate to.
As it unfortunately is with modern horror, it's the third act that lets My Soul To Take down. Not just disappointingly either, but almost jarringly, as so many red herrings are thrown at the audience you wonder if Craven himself even knows whats going on. The schizophrenia is mined, devices are left unexplained and the 'bathroom mirror' set-piece pops up not once but several times. Some ideas are introduced meekly then seemingly abandoned, such as characters alluding to Bug as a 'fallen angel', the point hammered home by the seemingly incidental 'wing-hole tears' in the back of Bug's shirt. If it fitted with the actual final reveal, it would be a relevant, if a little overbearing metaphor, but as it is the reference, left dangling, is simply confusing. We understand he's supposed to be 'innocent' (he's referred to as being multiple times throughout), so the brash angel idea is just unnecessary.
While the first and second acts worked quite hard on the supernatural elements of the story, the film slips easily into standard slasher fare – the wise-cracking, deep voiced, seemingly-omnipotent killer, the screaming teenage prey – it's as if Craven, like his victims, simply cannot escape from the shadow Freddy Krueger has cast over his career. It seems strange that the auteur who created so many of the now standard horror cliches in his early work, to cheekily lampooning them in his Scream franchise, has now resorted to employing them rather lazily in a retread of a genre he's perfected and had, until now, graciously moved on from. Like his fellow Master of Horror John Carpenter, who also recently disappointed with his return to the big screen, The Ward, Craven has returned to do nothing but tread water.
While genre fans hungry for their fix of standard horror fare will lap up My Soul To Take, more discerning viewers would be best waiting for what will hopefully be Craven's triumphant return in Scream 4. Just so long as he doesn't do it in bloody 3D.
My Soul to Take is out on DVD and Blu-ray today.
Roger Holland
Movie Review Archive
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