RELEASED IN 2010 and directed/written by Wes Craven, "My Soul to Take" is a slasher movie about the high schoolers of Riverton, Connecticut, and the legend that a schizophrenic serial killer will return to murder the teens born the day he died 16 years earlier. It's not clear if the killer actually died (his body was never found, dun, dun, dun) or if his soul will possess one or more of the kids in order to conduct his wicked deeds.I wasn't aware that this was a Wes Craven production while watching (I must've missed it in the opening credits), but the unrealistic tone and general dramatics reminded me of Craven's "Scream" (1996), albeit without the humor. So I wasn't surprised when the end credits revealed this was Wes' baby.I liked how Wes used actors who actually looked like teens and, in some cases, were teens during filming, like Paulina Olszynski, who was not quite 18 playing 16 year-old Brittany, and Emily Meade, who was 20 playing 19 year-old Fang.Zena Grey is on hand as a fundamentalist Christian, Penelope. Unfortunately, as is typical for Craven, Penelope's religiosity is so overdone I busted out laughing at a couple of her melodramatic statements. Memo to Craven: Actual staunch believers rarely talk in that heavy-handed manner to other people, particularly high schoolers, who simply aren't that overt & bold about their Christianity.In any case, the condor-charade-in-the-classroom sequence perked my attention because it was so quirky and compelling. There are some interesting ideas in the script (e.g. the soul of someone who dies passing into someone being born) and I appreciated that this isn't just a slasher flick, but also a coming-of-age high school movie. Max Thieriot & John Magaro emerge as the protagonists (or maybe antagonists), Bug and Alex, and they're competent, but I had trouble getting into the dramatics of the characters. Nothing seemed real; it felt like the Twilight Zone. I suppose it didn't help that some of the story elements are a bit convoluted. It also didn't help that the females, while more than serviceable, lacked sex appeal IMHO.Craven is renowned in horror circles, but he's had his share of clunkers (e.g. 1988's "The Serpent and the Rainbow"). "My Soul to Take" falls somewhere in the middle.THE MOVIE RUNS 108 minutes and was shot in Connecticut (New Milford, Danbury & Tolland).GRADE: C+

When Universal sold off their genre branch Rogue, what was then titled 25/8 sat collecting some dust until reshoots were ordered and a 3D post conversion added. The hostile reception and unpopularity of this film will probably never produce a director's cut, so I doubt we'll ever know if the original version is as messy as the released product, but boy is My Soul to Take a mess. The tone is all over the place and it barely makes a lick of sense, but as misguided as the film is, it's actually entertaining. The premise is complete nonsense about a killer with seven different personalities, who dies and somehow the personalities transfer to the wombs of seven unborn children. At their 16th birthdays they begin to get killed in typical slasher movie style and one of these kids is absorbing their souls - or something like that. Every teen character is an archetype and the end twist is as illogical as it is unsatisfactory. Bug's sister runs the school from the bathroom? Bug runs around his classroom dressed as a giant condor? Make no mistake, this is a ridiculous film that doesn't ever work and tries to create an aire of mystery with some half baked mythology, but its clumsiness has some charm. It's not nearly as toxic as its reputation and it's never boring.

Whew.....everyone's a critic. If you like scary movies....strange, scary movies.....strange, scary movies with a plot.....strange, scary movies with a plot and fairly good ending.....then get the popcorn and have a good time with this one.Look.....if I took every movie I have ever seen so seriously I had to dump on it more than enjoy it. Well.....there would be a lot of movies I would never watch. My Soul To Take is a good movie. It keeps you wondering, guessing and a little annoyed you didn't see it coming.Admittedly, I do scroll through the reviews to get an idea of how people viewed the movie and how they rated it.I have my own 5 Star system which got this film a 4.5.If you are new to IMDb.....never, ever take the scoring system to heart. Even a really BAD film based on reviews will perk my interest to watch it and see for myself. For those of you who use IMDb regularly.....this movie didn't earn the 4.7 it got. I would have said 8 out of 10 personally......but then that is me.Please don't throw this one away based on critics who "know the price of everything and the value of nothing"....Zonker from his guru days.......enjoy......Cookie Q(:-}

(Credit to IMDb!) 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.I saw this on DVD a couple years ago. Despite all the terrible critical reviews, I was still immensely excited to see it, simply because of Wes Craven's name being attached to the Director chair. Unfortunately for me, this is as bad as everyone says it is. It lacks suspense, I wasn't interested in any of the characters, and I felt a little hurt by Wes Craven to be honest with you. He is so much better than this. They can use 3.D all they want, it can't cover up that this is a terrible movie. Max Thierot has become a favorite of mine, ever since the series Bates Motel commenced. Even he can't save this crud!Final Thoughts: I don't remember much about this movie at all, just that it was god-awful. This may scare kids or young teenagers, but it's complete crap for adults. Stay away!2/10