Soon, the world will be treated to Scream 4, the latest addition to sometimes Master of Horror
Wes Craven's canon of chilling genre films which has so far included some of the seminal works produced for the horror market- The Hills Have Eyes, A Nightmare on Elm Street and The Last House on the Left (it is no accident that Craven's work has been remade and remade), which will either confirm that Craven is still in charge, or that he has officially lost it. Personally, I'm hoping for the best- but then I've seen Vampire in Brooklyn, so I am well aware that Craven's work can be something of a mixed bag. And until the fourth slasher-fest lands later this month, it is on films like
My Soul to Take, released today on
Blu-ray, that Craven's recent reputation must rest, and it is this latest addition that we must find the spark that Craven is not as ineffectual as some of his worst films might otherwise suggest. So follow the leap to see if the Craven talent lives on, or if it is as dead as one of his teen-star-victims. Initially, signs weren't that bad for My Soul To Take: after all, this is the first time since the excellent New Nightmare that Craven has taken on writing, directing duties and the executive producer role, and since that last foray proved so successful- without it there would be no Scream, and it is arguably the superior film- there could be some hope. But then sadly, the film had to go and start, and things began to go a bit array. The first ten minutes or so are lacking in finesse as I've ever seen from the veteran, as backstory plot-details aren't so much presented as spewed frantically at the screen. First off, we learn that there's a serial killer- the Riverton Ripper- going around stabbing people with a knife engraved inexplicably at this stage with the word "vengeance." Then we watch as a normal wholesome husband-type finds that very same knife in his workshop (somewhat carelessly not cleaned) to his surprise, though it then very quickly becomes clear that he suffers from multiple personality disorder, and that one of the personalities is our killer. He tries to ring his doctor (who he ominously says told him to ring 24/7 if anything happened- unsubtly revealed as a cynical after-thought, and an idiotic attempt to extend the mythos of the villain), but then the malignant personality goes a bit haywire and kills his wife, and some cops, before being taken down in a fiery blaze of glory (not before stretching the rules of invincible horror movie villains)
Then, there's the small matter of the seven premature births that happen at the exact same time as the Ripper's "death", and which form the crux of the story when it leaps stereotypically on sixteen years to see the nippers all grown up and still living in the shadow of that faithful and tragic day on which they were all born. How ironic that they would rue the date of their births, when so many audience members probably now rue the day they were born... The action centres on the most complex of the Ripper Seven, idiotically called Bug, who has floppy hair, and very possibly suffers from multiple personality disorder like the Ripper himself (though this is no clearer by the end, and is pretty much just swept under the carpet by the end). And sadly, Craven seems to have put his faith in a pretty bland bunch of actors to play the seven, with Bug- played by
Max Thieriot- heading up the hysterics in mostly pantomimey fashion, though no-one is particularly terrible, aside from cynical veteran cop (and Ripper nemesis)
Frank Grillo, who appears to have been attending the Costas Mandylor school of acting.
But the problem for the characters overall is not that they are badly acted, because they're not really, they're just as flat as the rest of the film (ironic considering its 3D billing). And that is all to do with the frankly shocking script, which treats the characters with even more contempt than the knife that slays most of them. It's good to hate the teens to a certain extent, because it's a generic memory of the best morally-tinged slasher movies when the genre was still a reasonable draw, and the on-screen monsters were created to slay wayward, and usually sexually promiscuous teens. Sadly, it now seems that the teens in question are fair game simply because they are stupid. And it isn't just the characterization in the script that sucks. This horrendously written script overall is as unspectacular as everything else on show, though like the film in general, there are a few fun moments. For instance in response to the villain menacingly growling "This is for you, you cunt!", a policeman trying to take him down responds quite brilliantly and also bafflingly with "This is for shut the fuck up!" That level of ineptitude has to be worth something at least.
But stupidity prevails. It is still incredibly silly to me that teen horrors like this are still shackled by the rules of horror films (even after the advent of post-genre films like Scream that referenced and debunked those rules), and they're now very distracting, and just seem lazy. For instance, if this is Ripper Day, a superstitious holiday that everyone believes in enough to believe that they are being killed because they neglected to adhere to some idiotic teenager's yearly ceremony designed to keep the Ripper's ghost away why are kids allowed to walk through the woods every day, and why the hell would they even choose to? In the end, it isn't scary at all, the deaths are all ridiculous, Raspberry-sauce laden atrocities and it is impossible to care for any of the characters, especially the ones we are supposed to care about. The atmospherics might be quite reasonable, and the killer costume is quite good-looking, but the film is so wayward in tone (there is a Mean Girls style deviation in the second act that is beyond belief) and badly executed that these meagre good points die like brief sunbeams in a rainstorm. There is nothing new here at all: My Soul To Take feels like a bungled copy-cat Scream wannabe, with little finesse, and no lasting legacy, other than hopefully being the last fetid Craven turd before he hits form again with Scream 4.
Quality
Overall, as mediocre as the film itself- colours are unspectacular, the palette is muted throughout and black levels are poor, but there aren't the technical problems that makes poor transfers horrible. Detail is at least pretty good, and skin tones aren't killed by the muted pallette, but it's just not a visually gripping transfer at all.
The audio is much better, and a big help for establishing the atmosphere that I found improbable time to praise above. The fundamentals are all adequately dealth with- clear dialogue, good background levels- and the bass and bombast of the heavier action scenes are great, along with the impressive manner in which atmospheric music is given appropriate importance during the creepier scenes.
Extras
Nothing much. The audio commentary with Craven and a gaggle of his cast is reasonable enough because Craven is his usual passionate and eloquent self, but the deleted scenes are all justifiably left out of the final cut, and do little to add to the overall experience of the film, and the Alternate Beginning is entirely unnecessary. The least said about the Alternate Endings, which offer two entirely wrongly toned new conclusions to the film, the better- I can't understand how any creative process could have come up with either as potentially viable options. Audio Commentary with Wes Craven, Max Thieriot, John Magaro, and Emily Meade. Deleted Scenes Alternate Beginning & Endings
My Soul To Take is released
on Blu-ray today.