My Soul to Take (2010)

Directed by: Wes Craven

Premise: A group of teenagers born on the same day that a notorious serial killer died begin to suspect that one of them has been infected with the killer’s soul.

What Works: My Soul to Take has a very strong opening that harkens back to classic Wes Craven horror films like The Hills Have Eyes and Last House on the Left. Unfortunately, it’s all downhill from there.

What Doesn’t: Wes Craven is a director who has had a very checkered career, including highs with horror genre classics like The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare on Elm Street, and Scream and dramatic lows with debacles like Deadly Friend, Cursed, and Shocker. Unfortunately, My Soul to Take is in the latter category and is among the worst films Craven has ever made. The story is ridiculous and makes no sense. It isn’t that the film is overly complicated; it is intended to be a standard slasher film. But My Soul to Take fails even at that. The film alternates between psychological and supernatural phenomena and the events of the story get increasing muddled until finally disintegrating in the finale. The acting in the film is terrible but it isn’t clear if that is the fault of the actors or if they are talents suffering under bad material. Even the kills are disappointing. The film isn’t scary and frights are staged so incompetently that it is hard to tell what is happening within each shot and within scenes.

Bottom Line: My Soul to Take is an utter disappointment. The only silver lining may be that Craven has often bounced back from his worst films with some of his best, so we can all look forward to his next picture.