My Soul to Take

Directed by: Wes Craven

Release Date: 2010

What a complete waste of time. I'm having less and less patience with the man who created my favorite horror villain, Freddy Krueger. Having read awful reviews of this last year when it premiered in the theaters, I waited a year until my local library was carrying the DVD. And I'm so glad I waited.

A few things to mention before I dig in - the DVD itself doesn't have a featurette, includes alternate openings and endings without commentary but includes audio commentary for the film itself. Who's going to watch with audio commentary if you haven't seen it first? I'm never watching this picture again. Such a disappointment. On to the review!


A serial killer is on the loose. A news report informs us this serial killer  has a knife with the word "Vengeance" on its shaft. While watching this on the TV screen, a pregnant woman runs over to her husband who's hiding said knife behind him. Without rehashing too much plot detail, I'll just to cut to the part where said serial killer supposedly dies in an ambulance crash (that he causes) and vows to kill all seven children born on the day he died. Sound familiar?

Bug is our protagonist who has weird headaches and glitches in his hardware (mimicking his friends' movements, repeating spoken dialogue from other characters, and just being a strange kid overall) and who was chosen to "kill" the Riverton serial killer. This is a ritual created by the kids of the Riverton town that's for fun, I guess? When he doesn't kill this puppet, each Riverton kid dies one by one in succession. Is it Bug killing his fellow classmates or the serial killer back from the dead?

This is one of Wes Craven's worst pictures. If Wes Craven would stop writing pictures and leave it to folks that don't rehash their plot ideas, then we as a horror film audience would be okay. If he could just direct movies that other people write, then the horror fans won't be as disappointed. Otherwise, Craven's movies are for the bored and easily entertained and I most certainly am not part of that group. I don't suggest this picture. At. All.

Additionally, this is reminiscent of a poor quality little picture he wrote and directed called Shocker. Similar premise (death beyond the grave) with awful execution. Let's face it folks - Craven's best work lies in A Nightmare on Elm Street, Scream, and his first picture, Last House on the Left. If this is the case, I'll be happy with this fact. But for the love of cinema, stop making ridiculous horror pictures!

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