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"MY SOUL TO TAKE"
(2010) (Max Thieriot, John Magaro) (R)

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QUICK TAKE:
Horror: Seven small-town teenagers find their lives in danger 16 years to the day after they were born and when a local serial killer either died or disappeared.
PLOT:
Sixteen years ago, a husband and father suffering from multiple personalities named Abel (RAUL ESPARZA) was revealed to be the Riverton Ripper. After killing his wife and almost killing his young daughter, he was shot by police but subsequently escaped and disappeared. That same night, seven babies were born at an area hospital. And local legend has it that, if the Ripper died that night, one of the seven may harbor the Ripper's evil soul.

Flash forward 16 years later, and we meet each of these kids. Bug (MAX THIERIOT) is the creepy kid in school who may also be showing signs of early schizophrenia. Alex (JOHN MAGARO) is the chatty kid raised by an abusive stepfather. Penelope (ZENA GREY) is the religious girl who prefers to keep her soul prepared should the Ripper return. Brittany (PAULINA OLSZYNSKI) is the pretty girl in class who Bug has a crush on. Brandon (NICK LASHAWAY) is the school bully. Jerome (DENZEL WHITAKER) is a blind African-American kid everybody likes, while Jay (JEREMY CHU) is the Asian kid who lives out beyond the tracks.

One by one, these kids start dying in horribly violent ways. Blame is cast on Bug, especially when his sister Fang (EMILY MEADE) tells him that their mother, May (JESSICA HECHT), is really their aunt, and that their father was indeed the Ripper. Can the town cops, Paterson and Jeanne-Baptiste (FRANK GRILLO and DANAI GURIRA), put the pieces of the puzzle together in time?

OUR TAKE: 0 out of 10
Our reviewing policy for films that aren't shown in advance to critics is that we'll only provide a paragraph or two about the film's artistic merits.

Quite simply, "My Soul to Take" is a mess. Had I gone into it totally unaware of its pedigree, I would have sworn this was the work of a first-time music video director in his early 20s with no idea how to frame suspense, shoot dialogue, or edit a film so that it has any coherence. But this movie was written and directed by Wes Craven, the man behind the original "Nightmare on Elm Street" and "Scream!"

"My Soul to Take" tells the who-cares story of a group of small-town 16-year-olds who were born on the same day a deranged serial killer called the Riverton Ripper was killed. Legends have developed over the years that the psycho will either return on that date and start killing again or literally rise from the dead and possess the soul of one of the seven kids. Not surprisingly, one of the teens is the offspring of the killer. For a while, the film tries to have fun making you guess who that is. Then, in one of many lapses of logic, the identity is revealed and we come to learn that pretty much everyone knew. They were just shielding this character from the truth.

I wish I could have been shielded from this movie. Badly acted, horribly scripted, and edited as if there is at least a half-hour missing, this is one of the worst films of the year and rates a 0 out of 10. (T. Durgin)




Reviewed October 8, 2010 / Posted October 8, 2010


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