My Soul To Take DVD Review

My Soul To Take DVD Review

By Jose

Plot:

A serial killer returns to his hometown to stalk seven children who share the same birthday as the date he was allegedly put to rest.

Main Cast:
Max Thieriot (Bug), John Magaro (Alex), Denzel Whitaker (Jerome), Zena Crey (Penelope), Nick Lash away (Brandon), Paulina Olszynski (Brittany), Jeremy Chu (Jay), Emily Meade (Fang)

Review:

In the sleepy town of Riverton, legend tells of a serial killer who swore he would return to murder the seven children born the night he died. Now, 16 years later, people are disappearing again. Has the psychopath been reincarnated as one of the seven teens, or did he survive the night he was left for dead? Only one of the kids knows the answer. Adam "Bug" Heller (Max Thieriot) was supposed to die on the last night the Riverton Ripper wrecked havoc on that terrifying night. Unaware of terrifying crimes being committed to the seven children, he has been plagued by nightmares of their murders while not aware if they hold true or if he is simply imagining the images that haunt him. But if Bug hopes to save his friends from the monster that's returned, he must face an evil that won't rest until it finishes the job it began the day he was born.

Director Wes Craven really did a decent job with this movie. It is not his best work, but the movie is rather good. I liked the background myth that is hinted to throughout the movie. Of the Condor being a soul eater, or cleaner of the dead, taking in the souls into itself. The movie explains it a bit better than I did. The story is a straight forward teen-slasher movie. It sadly falls into the “run of the mill” forgotten character territory that these films love to do. Except for the couple of main characters in Bug, Alex, and Fang.

So the cast is pretty basic for the movie with all being intended to be killed in a gruesome manner. We get the asian kid, the black guy, the jock, the pretty girl, the loner, the werid girl, and the awkward main guy. I did have a problem with the black guy, Jerome. He played a blind character who seemed to be able to get around pretty damn easy. In the beginning when everyone goes home after the yearly birthday scare, he just gets up and leaves by himself. They were all in a pretty thick forest, away from the main road, and it was the middle of the night. How the hell did he manage to get out and home? Later he climbs a rope to Bug’s second floor room. Walks across the small roof overhang to the correct window, and climbs into said window. Then is able to find the closet to hide in. You sure he is supposed to be blind?
Bug was the only character I liked and actually cared for. Good thing because he is the main character. The miracle baby. He is a bit off mentally and suffers from migraines and some episodes. At one point, he switches from pain to alert and rather scary during a presentation in class. He played the lovable crazy awkward kid great. One other thing about his character is that when the other kids died he took in there thoughts and personalities. Which came off well during the movie. Made him look like he would end up being the killer.

Lots of deaths and blood. Very minimal use of CGI. Although there was one part in the film where Bug is in his bathroom and looks into the medicine cabinet mirror and sees Penelope looking back. The door to the cabinet is open a bit, and when Penelope puts her hand to the mirror it moves toward Bug. Really great visual.

Final Thoughts:

My Soul To Take was better than I was led to believe from reading other reviews. It wasn’t a Wes Craven master piece, but it was a good teen slasher film. I loved the Max Thieriot Bug character and felt bad for him ad his problems. One other problem I had is that the ending wasn’t as clear cut as I would have liked. Throughout the film Bug seemed to take on the souls of the dead teens. But when he killed the one bad soul in his friend did it go into him or did it die off? We were left hanging in a bad way. But overall I did enjoy the film.

Ratings: 3 out of 5