| My Soul to Take in 3D | |
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Theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Wes Craven |
| Produced by |
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| Written by | Wes Craven |
| Starring | Max Thieriot Denzel Whitaker Raul Esparza Shareeka Epps |
| Music by | Marco Beltrami |
| Cinematography |
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| Editing by | Peter McNulty |
| Studio | Relativity Media |
| Distributed by | Rogue Pictures |
| Release date(s) | October 8, 2010 |
| Running time | 107 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Budget | $25 million[1] |
| Box office | $20,976,402[2] |
My Soul to Take is a 2010 American horror film, written and directed by Wes Craven.[3] It is his first film since 1994's Wes Craven's New Nightmare that he both wrote and directed.[4]The film stars Max Thieriot as the protagonist Adam "Bug" Hellerman, who is one of seven teenagers chosen to die.
The film was not successful at the box office,[5] and was poorly received by critics.[6]
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My Soul to take (Originally titled "25/8") tells the story of Abel Plenkov, a serial killer dubbed 'The Riverton Ripper.' After killing his wife and trying to hunt down his children, Abel was shot by police officers. While being driven to the hospital, he regains consciousness and crashes the Ambulance, vowing to return and murder the 7 children born on the night he was killed. The 'Riverton 7' Are Adam (Bug), who is the mentally unstable son of Abel Plenkov, Alex, Bug's best friend who lives with an abusive Stepfather, Brandon, the school bully and jock, Brittany, a girl chased after by Bug and Brandon, Jerome, a blind student, Penelope, a jesus freak who has strange premonitions of the murders, and Jay, a student that crosses the bridge out of town.
At school, there is a social hierarchy which is led by 'Fang', Bug's sister. Brandon acts as the muscle and terrorizes the students, and Fang controls areas of the school and punishes anyone that defies her. As the movie follows Bug, we see his friendship with Alex, and how Alex is trying to teach him to be a man, repeating that he should 'Fake being tough, Fake it good.' We learn of his obsession with death, (Namely the Californian Condor, which he makes a costume of) his migraines and his lapses into different characters, some of which are the Riverton 7, some of which are more scared or confident versions of himself, revealing that he suffers from schizophrenia. At one point he sees a terrified Jay, drowning in the bathroom mirror, and in an eavesdropped conversation, Bug finds out he has been in institutions and Fang says he has killed before.
On the 16th Anniversary of the ripper's death, Jay is killed brutally by a man dressed in a costume, which was used by the kids to scare the populace. The man ambushes him on the bridge, kills him and throws him into the river. Later on, Penelope is also murdered after praying with one of her teen friends about her baby, which belongs to Brandon. When Jay's body is found, the policemen who apprehended the original Riverton Ripper fear the worst, and as school ends, Brandon approaches Brittany. He tries to charm her into having sex with him, and she eventually runs into the woods, as he chases. Soon she comes across the burnt out ambulance where the Ripper died, and finds Penelope's body. Brandon finds it as well and Brittany accuses him of murdering Penelope, and calls the police. Soon he runs into the woods to escape the police, and Brittany runs to escape him. He calls Brittany and breaks down, only to hear the Ripper's voice on the other end, and he is soon killed.
Brittany is killed soon after in a similar fashion, and Bug is seen in the woods burying his Californian Condor. Soon he returns home to his Aunt and sister for his birthday presents. Fang gives him a wooden rocking horse, which was made by his father the night he went insane. As Fang learns of the death of 4 of the Riverton 7, she has an argument with her Aunt, which eventually leads to violence directed at Bug. Since birth, Bug had been sheltered by his Aunt, and never learned the truth behind the ripper or his father, and i as she flies into a rage, Fang tells him the truth as a flashback shows the horrible night 16 years ago. Fang then smashes her room to pieces to get rid of the memory, and Bug smashes the toy horse. As all four bodies are found, suspicion soon falls on Bug, whose phone was found on Brittany's body. He begins to fall into insanity, and returns to his room where he finds Alex. Bug reveals that in a note Penelope gave him, it said there are two possibilities for the Riverton murders. The first is that Abel Plenkov never died in the crash, and has returned for vengeance, or that he did die and his soul has possessed one of the Riverton 7. Meaning wither Bug, Alex or Jerome is the killer. Alex reveals that he had killed his stepfather in an accident, and breaks down.
Bug goes to get him some water, and finds the Ripper's knife in the bathroom, with a vision of Penelope in the mirror. He hears noises downstairs, soon finding his dead Aunt and a policeman ready to apprehend him, as all evidence points towards Bug (He was in the woods, his phone was on Brittany and he was the only one in the house when his Aunt died) As he is about to be arrested, the Ripper runs in from behind and kill the officer. Bug then fights with the Ripper, hitting him over the head with a bowl. Then, as the Ripper is about to kill him, he hears a noise upstairs, swears and runs to Bug's room. Bug follows him, and sees blood on the windowsill, and blood on the closet door. He finds a dying Jerome in the closet, who tells him he was stabbed by the Ripper when he was on the roof, and was hiding. As he passes away he passes on some knowledge of who the killer is and tells Bug he is a hero. Alex then climbs through the window, saying he heard police officers and thought that they were after him, so he ran and came back.
Bug tells him about the struggle and the murders and Alex responds by telling him that he is diagnosed with Schizophrenia, and that what happened might not be what Bug saw. Bug soon notices that Alex has blood on his ear, the same place that he hit the Ripper on the head with the bowl. He then figures out that in the time that Alex was 'hiding' he could've easily planted the knife, killed Jerome, his Aunt and the police officer, and he ran upstairs when he heard Jerome, afraid he would give him away. Alex is then possessed by Abel Plenkov, and tries to bargain with Bug. Soon they fight and Bug stabs Alex in the chest, who then returns to his former self, noting 'It had to be this way.'
Bug goes outside, waiting to be arrested, but is instead greeted like a hero, who stopped the vicious Riverton Ripper. In the epilogue, Alex was charged with the murders of his Stepfather, Bug's Aunt, A police officer and 5 of the Riverton 7, while he is hailed as a hero. While he didn't think it was right, he says "I'll fake it for them, and I'll fake it good. Alex wouldn't have it any other way."
Production of the film began in April 2008[7] originally aiming for an October 2009 release.[8][9] Craven described the killer in March 2009 as "a figure who lives under the river", eats bark, and lives in the woods since his alleged death.[10] The film is produced by Anthony Katagas and first time producer Iya Labunka, Craven's wife.[8]
The film was shot in 2D. It was only due to the rising popularity of 3D films at the time that the decision was made to have it converted to 3-D.[11]
Henry Hopper, son of late actor Dennis Hopper, was originally cast in the lead role of Adam "Bug" Hellerman, but was replaced by Max Thieriot after Hopper contracted mononucleosis.[12] Accompanying Thieriot is John Magaro as Alex Dunkelman, Adam's friend who is abused regularly by his sadistic boorish stepfather, Quint (Lou Sumrall).[13] Paulina Olszynski plays Brittany Cunningham, who shares a mutual secret attraction to Adam.[13] Nick Lashaway plays Brandon O'Neal, a "dashing, athletic jock" and "the handsomest boy in his school" who is attracted to Brittany.[13] Emily Meade plays Leah ("Fang").[13] Zena Grey, Denzel Whitaker, Trevor St. John, Raúl Esparza and Shareeka Epps also star.[14]
The film was released on October 8, 2010[15] and ran in 3-D.[11] My Soul to Take was released on DVD and Blu-ray Disc on February 8.[16] The trailer was attached to Resident Evil: Afterlife and Devil.
Although many of the main scenes were filmed in multiple rural Massachusetts towns, many of the high school scenes were shot in the then vacant Tolland High School.[17] Other scenes were filmed in New Milford, CT and Gaylordsville, CT.
My Soul to Take was not previously screened for critics and has been universally panned by them. On Rotten Tomatoes, it currently has a 9% approval based on 55 reviews, with an average score of 2.9/10 and a consensus of "Dull, joyless, and formulaic, My Soul to Take suggests writer/director Wes Craven ended his five-year filmmaking hiatus too soon."[18] The 3D conversion was also received negatively.
The film opened at #4 on its opening Friday, but ultimately placed at #5 for the weekend with $6,842,220 behind The Social Network, Life as We Know It, Secretariat, and the previous 3D screen holder Legend of the Guardians: The Owls of Ga'Hoole, in its third weekend. It had placed the record for the lowest opening of a 3D film released at over 1500 venues, claiming the record from Alpha and Omega until Gulliver's Travels[19] claimed the record two months later.
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