My Soul to Take Trailer (2010)

Trailer for My Soul to Take.

In the sleepy town of Riverton, legend tells of a serial killer who swore he would return to murder the seven children born the night he died. Now, 16 years later, people are disappearing again. Has the psychopath been reincarnated as one of the seven teens, or did he survive the night he was left for dead? Only one of the kids knows the answer…

My Soul to Take is the first film since West Craven's New Nightmare (1994) that was written and directed by Wes Craven. He had written a few films in between the two, but they were directed by someone else. He also directed many films including the Scream series which he did not write.

Some of the opening scenes and most of the third act of the film were completely reshot because there was such a negative reaction by test audiences.

Henry Hopper, son of Dennis Hopper, was originally cast as the lead character Bug, but Hopper had to drop out because he contracted mononucleosis and was replaced with Max Thieriot.

My Soul to Take was a critical and commercial failure. The film earned a disappointing $14 million with a $25 million budget. Critics were also unfavorable as the film holds a 9% on Rotten Tomatoes.

As a huge Wes Craven fan, the trailer for My Soul to Take is a bit of a disappointment. The concept is interesting enough. Seven teenagers who were all born on the same day sixteen years earlier also happens to be the same day that some psycho murderer died in the town. After all this time has passed, there seems to be a new rash of murders. Has the killer come back to avenge his death, or is it one of the seven teens who may have a screw loose?

The trailer is filled with a lot of nonsense including the main character having the nickname, Bug, which is repeated multiple times in the trailer. We get it, the kid’s called bug. It also seems quite clear that Bug is a bit bonkers, it may be that look in his eye or his weird acting, but that kid spells nothing but trouble. There are a few young actors in the film who are not bringing their A-game, which is surprising for a Wes Craven production, as talented young actors are usually his thing.

The trailer has a slightly hard sounding emo song which implies it wants to be tough and scary but it is mostly just about whiney teenage kids who are trying to kill each other. Horror movies can be bad and not a lot of people complain because audiences accept that fact but the trailer for My Soul to Take is a huge disappointed since it was helmed by a legend.