Freddy's 31 Days of Horror Day 22: Wes Craven's My Soul To Take
Here we have one of the last two films done by Wes Craven, but unlike his Scream 4, this flick was both written and directed by him and from what I recall he considered it a very personal piece. It's usually a film swept under the rug buried in mixed reviews and the overshadowing of Scream 4 and until recently I myself hadn't given it a chance. Let me be straight up on this, this flick is weird and if you look away for a second can be quite confusing. However it's full of really cool ideas that in my opinion seem to be an amalgam of Craven's work. 
We are introduced to a schizophrenic named Abel who has a young daughter, lovely wife and another little one on the way! At the same time there is a serial killer in the town called the Riverton Ripper and it is quickly established that Abel is the Ripper! Talking to himself in a very demonic voice we are weaved in and out of different time lapses where he has killed his family and the police and his psychiatrist are at his doorstep. This is where Wes Craven gives us his version of Jason Voorhees in my opinion as we see Abel killing police and medical personal mercilessly with a hint of Freddy Krueger, methodically. He is shot, stabbed, and finally is treated to a fiery explosion before he goes down! This sequence alone tickles your slasher funny bone and gives you a supernatural element to his persona of the Ripper! That's just the opening! 
Sixteen years later it is revealed that seven children were born on the night of the Ripper's alleged death, as a body has never been found. Every year to keep the peace in the town, children along with "The Ripperton Seven" gather to perform a right of passage on the seven's birthday. They gather at the site of the crashed ambulance by the river and one of the seven must fight and kill the Ripper as he rises from the grave. Of course the Ripper is a fake mannequin that each must fight. This year there is only one of the seven who had never performed the ritual and his name is Bug. Unfortunately Bug has mental problems of his own and fails to even face the fake Ripper. Thus with the ritual failed...the Ripper returns.
As I said this film seems to be a Craven amalgam and this gives way to almost two films. The interactions with the kids in high school almost seems like an eighties teen movie with really weird kids. There's a hierarchy with the seven and Bug's sister Leia is the queen Bee who controls everyone. This gives way to some awkwardly fun teenage moments but it also delivers on just how strange and messed up these kids are as some revel in being part of the seven and some are emotionally torn up by it. Religion plays a small part in it as there are characters who rely pretty heavily on it and those who tire of it and raises some good questions on life for our protagonist, Bug, and his understanding of the Ripper. 
The condor eating the flesh of the dead as sustenance plays in synonymously with the idea of the Ripper living on in the souls of the seven and is represented in a very strange presentation Bug gives at school about the bird, but comes back full circle in the end of the film.
The end itself sets up for you to think it's obvious what's going on but pulls you into the left field really quickly. It's almost as if Craven wanted you to think everything was predictable just to throw you off at how weird the ending gets and my favorite part is in the end it hints at everything being Supernatural but never quite fully explains if it was supernatural or psychological. 
My only chief complaints are other than two of the seven, the rest of the kids are cannon fodder to murder and some of the acting is just not all there. I do think had Wes been given more time to develop some of the characters this film could have been quite a tear jerker but is a definite effective horror movie with even some of Scream's meta influence in it. Most of the kids are fully aware of their situations and are very smart about what they do. The end throws you off but is so satisfying to see Bug step up and become a man after his initial failures in the beginning. It's such a weird little gem from a horror maestro and is definitely something to sit, think and watch on a Halloween night! Nine more days til' Halloween Halloween! Nine more days til' Halloween Silver Shamrock!
