As a kid growing up the name Wes Craven was always on the tip of my tongue, the master mind behind such iconic films and franchises as "A Nightmare On Elm Street", "The People Under The Stairs", and "The Last House On The Left", so clearly when I heard he was making a return to the teen scream / slasher genre that made him so famous, I was intrigued.
"My Soul To Take" is not a terrible film, but at the same time it is also not anything special, it is sadly your typical highly predictable Wes Craven style teen scream, it sticks to the mold and does nothing to break away from it, just your average cookie cutter horror film, pushed out the doors just in time for Halloween.
Don't get me wrong, I had a good time watching "My Soul To Take", but I would of rather of been watching something more original and less familiar, while the story was very easy to decipher and I had the killer fingered long before the big unveiling, it did do a good job at keeping you interested by moving the story along at a steady and comfortable pace. The acting was fine and the casting was well done I thought, the real weakness of the film was purely the script being way to cookie cutter for my taste.
There's not a whole lot of gore in "My Soul To Take", with only one "graphic" kill coming to mind, but when it came time for the sweet crimson juice to be sprayed, it looked good and is enhanced by some pretty nice sound effects to ad that extra gross out factor. A lot of the kills are done so that the blunt of the gore is off camera, leaving you to see buckets of blood and hearing the victim's final gasps for air, but not the actual kill itself.
Much like Dario Argento's "Trauma", "My Soul To Take" pigeon holes itself limiting the killer's method of choice to being a certain fixed style that is used on each and every person that gets dispatched. In a slasher film, I strongly feel this is a bad move, leave it open so there is some room for creative and holy shit did you see that sort of kills, otherwise your audience is going to grow bored quickly of your killer, you can only see the same throat slit so many times before you're completely desensitized to it.
Also there were times where the movie felt like I was watching "Scream! There's An Nightmare On Elm Street", as if the supernatural aspects of Freddy were mixed with the who done it "Scream" plot, and while this may of sounded appetizing on paper, in reality it really felt unoriginal and to make matters worse the ending to me felt really rushed and tacked on.
With an improved ending, and a more though out and well written script, "My Soul To Take" could of been a real hit for Wes Craven, the concept was highly interesting and I really dug the entire plot as far as the seven souls of a schizophrenic serial killer reborn on the night of his demise go, I would of liked to of seen a little more gore and more creative kills and would of really loved if Wes Craven would move away from his comfort zone he has locked himself in ever since the ultra success of the original "Scream" film.
On Behalf of The Liberal Dead I give "My Soul To Take" a 5 out of 10, an average horror film just in time for the haunting season, with there being slim pickens as far as horror goes this Halloween season I would still recommend this film over sitting through yet another "Saw" film.
5/10
- Ted "Ritualistic" Brown
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