My Soul To Take

Wes Craven has always been touted as a master of horror and I have always disagreed with that. Most of Cravens output is actually ropey. LAST HOUSE ON THE LEFT and THE HILLS HAVE EYES are undeniably classic horrors but they are not well made films. Craven got his reputation by creating Freddy Kruger who became a massive money machine for New Line Cinema but look at Cravens other films, DEADLY FRIEND, SHOCKER, THE PEOPLE UNDER THE STAIRS they are frankly kooky. Craven never really shaped up in terms of putting together a good looking film until VAMPIRE OF BROOKLYN and NEW NIGHTMARE most of his previous efforts were pedestrian in terms of vision and he always had some idiotic plot device like Nancy's talking digital watch in A NIGHTMARE ON ELM STREET or the dog flashback s in THE HILLS HAVE EYES PART II.

Now Craven introduces us to the legend of the Riverton Ripper and the seven children born on the very night of his death. Sixteen after this infamous killer has met his end the seven kids are being stalked by someone dressed as the Ripper maybe even the Ripper himself. Or maybe one of them is posses by the Ripper. Or maybe they all are. Or maybe Craven has finally lost it 'cause I know I have trying to sort out the shambles of a plot that is buried under this movies idiosyncrises.

What we have in MY SOUL TO TAKE is taking what Craven learned in making the SCREAM trilogy and channelling it through one of the most batshit and inconsistent horror films of all time. It should be easy to hate this movie but its incoherent baffling madness seems to be part of its charm. It is simply all over the place with a codex of teen slang that no one has ever heard of and huge pieces of exposition, even from dying characters, that fill in the "action" that clearly the budget and schedule would not allow. How this film got by the scripting stage and into production baffles me though it makes very clear why Craven went running back to the SCREAM franchise.

A kinda semi-floppy.