My Soul To Take
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My Soul To Take
Director: Wes Craven
Stars: Max Thieriot, John Magaro and Denzel Whitaker
Since i am too busy these days to write a review (coming back with more in the next few days though), here's one that my friend Theo S. wanted to share...
"Now i lay me down to sleep
I pray the lord my soul to keep."
These are the opening lines to Wes Craven's new horror film "My Soul To Take" and they could easily be used to summarise the movie.
The plot is vaguely reminiscenant of Craven's earlier work as it deals with a group of teenagers dealing with a serial killer that the town seems to have forgotten. But that is where the similarities with "A Nightmare On Elm Street" stop.
Here Craven only manages to create a 2-dimensional "Jason type killer" whose only motives for killing are his schizophrenia. And where Freddy managed to be scary and later on funny and clever the Ripperton Killer is neither.He is hardly given any depth,or even manages to be scary when he is yelling "Die,Die,Die"
Perhaps I would have been able to chalk that up to the rating by claiming that the movie was toned down for a PG-13 rating but it got an R and hardly ever feels like it.
The characters are the typical stereotypes ranging from the older girl that gets to boss everyone around, the male jock athlete who is acting like a pig , the outcast who may or may not have a dark secret, the girl who is secretly in love with the outcast but has to date the athlete because her bossy friend told her so, the loving nerd who hangs with the outcast and even a bible studying teenage girl that utters lines like "When it gets too hot,turn on the prayer-conditioning". And lest we forget the Asian guy who must have had a total of 3 or four lines before he dies and also the blind black guy.
Now in a typical slasher film you would expect to have some stereotype characters and in some way it is what makes them fun. The problem here is that the characters are hardly ever given any time to develop before they ultimately meet their demise and as a result you don't really care whether they live or not.
The plot seems to border from the supernatural to the realistic approach of a schizophrenic killer but never manages to convince us of either.
The acting from mostly unknown actors is weak and pales in comparison to that of then newcomers Johnny Depp and Heather Langenkamp in the Elm Street.
Overall it feels like it would have been a good debut for a new director.
It definitely lacks the skill, frame work and editing to make you jump from your seat although it has a few redeeming factors.
But it is definitely a let-down coming from the creative mind that brought us "A Nightmare on Elm Street" and dared to mock himself later on in "Scream".
P.S. I will never understand why Craven ripped the Drew Barrymore scene from "Scream" and chose to do it again in such bad taste.
