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Call Me Crazy, But...It's Not That Bad! My Soul to Take (2010) Review

I've come across a lot of film that don't get the respect they deserve. Escape from L.A., Slumber Party Massacre II, RawHead Rex, you name it. One film that I was looking forward to a while back was My Soul to Take. This was the first film Wes Craven had made in years, so as you can imagine, I was very antsy for this to be released. Although I was pumped to the max to see this, I completely forgot about it and just neglected it for a whole year. A couple months later, I began to notice all the bad reviews surrounding the film. Almost a whole year after the film was released, I finally got a chance to watch it, and it's really not that bad. I swear, if I'm lying, you can have...

My Soul to Take 2010 Review

In a somewhat confung opening, a man named Abel Plenkov making a dollhouse for his young daughter and a wooden horse for his yet-to-be-born son. It is revealed that Abel is a schizophrenic killer known as the Riverton Ripper. The town doesn't know the Ripper's true identity, until this night. As his alternate personality takes over, he kills his wife, is shot by the police, and driven to the hospital. However, he awakens in the ambulance and kills some more people, and he falls into the river, never to be seen again. xteen years later, we are introduced to Adam "Bug" Hellerman, an outcast at his school whose only friends are Alex and Jerome. Adam begins having vions and cannot explain why.

Pretty soon, a group of teenagers who were all born the same night the Ripper was killed begin getting picked off one by one in brutal fashion. Adam tries to solve the mystery with the help of his ster, who hates him for an unknown reason. Adam soon discovers who his real father was, and begins to suspect that he's the murderer. Has Abel returned to seek vengeance as a ghost, or has his soul inhabited one of the teens? Does the fact all seven were born prematurely have anything to do with it?



OK, I figured I'd start off with what I dislike about the film. For one, some scenes are just plain ridiculous. There's this big thing about condors, including this awful scene in a classroom where Alex dresses up like a condor and flies around the room, then sprays the school bully with green and brown liquids. Some of the writing is poor at times, and some of the acting is wooden. It's so readily obvious when CGI blood was used, and most of the time it's spraying at the screen. The idea to convert the film to 3D came at the last minute, so I imagine they added the CGI blood as an afterthought.



Now for the good. Probably the best thing My Soul to Take has going for it is the twist at the end I did not see coming. It's not like an "OMG" twist like in The xth Sense, but an "Ohhh" twist. Even though some of the acting is wooden, some is good, and some of the writing is also very clever. I liked the use of real fake blood in most of the deaths. I really liked the plot, but the trailer made it look like a cross between A Nightmare on Elm Street and Shocker, when it's really more like a cross between Scream and Shocker. This is the main reason I was confused, as I was somehow convinced there was supposed to be some dream killings. Don't ask, because I don';t have a clue why. However, the one reason why it works so well for me is not because of the horror parts. At its core, it's a coming-of-age film, and a really good one at that. Adam is finally discovering who he is, where he came from, and discovering things about himself. I remember my teenage years vividly, and this is as close to an accurate high school that I've come across (except in the superb 1986 film Trick or Treat).



So what's the verdict? Well...I liked it. Now, I definitely believe in free speech, but Wes Craven has said that due to all the negativity towards My Soul to Take, he will stop directing horror after Scream 4. The man has put a lot of time and effort into this film, only to be turned down by masses who won't look at it from the correct angle. That's pretty harsh. If you're one of the many that hate the film, try looking at it from a different angle. Look at it like it's a coming-of-age flick, and you'll see the true beauty in it. Wes, I doubt you're reading this, but if you are, I want to let you know that you have at least one person standing behind you on this one. Truly

work. but then again, I'm one of those people that kind find anything good in even the most disastrous film. That's not a statement; that's a challenge. In the comments section, tell me a movie you think is awful and I'll tell you what I like about it (if I've seen it). Remember: Going into things with an open-mind will get you good places in life.

Can't get behind you on this one. The first 10 minutes were extremely proming... then it nosedived, and never managed to recover. Maybe it's because there's a half decade plus age gap between us, but this flick's school life/sequences wasn't the least bit like high School for me. I graduated in 99, and, believe it or not, Scream nailed high school life (at the time) really well. I think that's why Scream was so successful, I've hyet to see a flick (Before or nce0 that captured the feel of high school in such realistic fashion. The original ANOES was certainly close though. Interesting both of those come from Craven.

But yeah, I thought the films flaws just stood too prominent. It had a few cool moments, but as a whole, I'm with the majority: this flick was a steaming pile of embarrasng shit.

and craven isn't going to step away because of MSTT. If he opts to walk away from filmmaking, it will be because he's done. I have a real hard time believing his skin has gotten so thin at this point that negative reception will encourage retirement. This is a guy who was torn apart for flicks like LHOTL, Shocker and Cursed: I've got to imagine he's learned to take the verbal beatings.

man your crazy buy seriously i was really hyped to see movie just from the trailer but I got lazy end saw it in june i thought it had a really good start i liked the story of the ripper but i will say they are some wtf moments like the condor scene or the girl bathroom scene its really weird but when the actuall killer is on the screen the movie is pretty good overall its just a meh film the

movie has alot of

good things going for it but its the stupid things that hold it back.

I'm glad someone did a review on this film because I also didnt find it to be as bad as people stated.Now parts of it ofcourse I realize were pretty stupid and poorly written but for the main part for me was seeing Wes Craven directing and writing again.I got a big sense of 90's teen scream horror for the most part of this which I really enjoyed and I thought the character of the Riverton Ripper was interesting.The film was built up very nicely but then the ending is where it bombed.I thought that Wes could have done a lot with that ending but the direction it was taken in was disappointing for me.I just didnt think the whole thing with the soul being in Alex when he pretty much built to be like it was in Bug just didnt fit.But I try not to be too critical of the film because again for the most part I enjoyed it.Also just throwing in a de note I think the poster for it is pretty damn ck looking.

I'm with you on this one. I didn't think it was GREAT but I didn't think it was as bad as everyone makes out.

and craven isn't going to step away because of MSTT. If he opts to walk away from filmmaking, it will be because he's done. I have a real hard time believing his skin has gotten so thin at this point that negative reception will encourage retirement. This is a guy who was torn apart for flicks like LHOTL, Shocker and Cursed: I've got to imagine he's learned to take the verbal beatings. That was what I heard a while ago on HB. He might have changed his mind nce then (God I hope so).

I'm with you on this one. I didn't think it was GREAT but I didn't think it was as bad as everyone makes out. Same here man, sure it wasn't as good as SCREAM or ANOES but it was an okay flick. I think everyone had their hopes way too high for this film but luckily I watched it after everyone was bad mouthing it so my hopes were low and I found it entertaining. Sure I wouldn't buy the dvd but I'd watch it if someone had it and there was nothing else on.

I think you're crazy.

First off, I'm also one of those guys that tries to find the good in everything (I liked the NOES remake if that tells you anything) and I really wanted to like this movie. I remember being so excited over the trailers, but then I watched the movie. Maybe I missed something and needed to watch it with the captions on, but my problem was that it didn't explain enough like the soul collecting or whatever. I just didn't get the reason behind it. Also, I didn't care for any of the characters. Even the main one I just didn't like so I didn't really care if he lived or died. Of course, it's been awhile nce I've seen it so they may have explained more, but I just forgot it. Whatever the case I just remember that I didn't like it, but I really, really wanted to and tried to.

Also, I didn't care for any of the characters. Even the main one I just didn't like so I didn't really care if he lived or died.

I think this may be it in a nutshell: what the film really lacked was character development. Everyone seemed, for the most part, to be stereotypes, which made it difficult to really root for anyone. Also, the concept behind the soul collecting (and disbursement at the beginning of the film) was a little muddled. It makes me wonder if it wasn't some bad editing that really

tanked the film in viewer's eyes.

That being said, I still think it's a decent flick. It was better than any other choices out at the time I went to see it and I don't regret the tenner I spent on it.