My Soul to Take



My Soul To Take is a 2010 horror movie directed by Wes Craven.

As legend has it, a serial killer, the Ripper, will return to the quaint town of Riverton to murder the seven children that were born the night he allegedly died. Sixteen years after his death, members of the community begin to disappear. All the teens know the Ripper to be dead, but they hold the belief that his soul may have reincarnated into one of their bodies, forcing them to discover who among them may be the killer. Only one of the teenagers knows the answer. Adam "Bug" Heller was supposed to die on the bloody night his father went insane. Unaware of his father's terrifying crimes, Bug has been plagued by nightmares since he was a baby. But if Bug hopes to save his friends from the Ripper, he must face an evil that won't rest... until the Ripper finishes the job it began the day Bug was born.

My Soul to Take provides examples of:
"May: (noticing dirt and leaves on his sweater) "Did you fall?"
 * Abusive Parents: Alex's stepfather.
 * Adults Are Useless: A bit of an Author Tract for Wes Craven, eh?
 * Agent Mulder: Jeanne-Baptiste (the black chick who got her throat sliced) during the first murders. She flips with Paterson 16 years later and takes the Agent Scully spot, and even lampshades it.
 * Agent Scully: Paterson starts off as this, and then becomes the Agent Mulder for no apparent reason.
 * Alpha Bitch: Fang, a super senior, has the entire student body under her thumb.
 * Animal Motifs
 * Bait and Switch:
 * Bait and Switch:

Bug: "I buried a friend... my condor costume.""

""This is for you, you cunt!"
 * Black Dude Dies First:.
 * Calling the Old Man Out
 * Chekhov's Gun: The biggest knife in the kitchen.
 * Dark and Troubled Past: Leah, complete with Freudian Excuse.
 * Developing Doomed Characters
 * Disability Superpower: Averted with Jerome. He simply uses standard blindness techniques for mobility and identification.
 * Evil Gloating: The Ripper, naturally.
 * Expy: Comparisons to the first Nightmare on Elm Street (and the second, considering stuff like the possession aspect and the main character being a boy) were inevitable.
 * Fauxshadow:.
 * The Fundamentalist: Penelope.
 * Genre Savvy: The whole town knew The Ripper would come back some day, and a few knew how souls worked.
 * Harassing Phone Call
 * I Just Knew: Bug, when he states that Brittany was with Brandon in the woods..
 * I See Dead People: Bug sees and, both in a mirror.
 * Jerk Jock: Brandon, and even he admits it. Interestingly, he also doubles as The Dragon for Fang in her rule over the high school.
 * Knife Nut
 * Lust Object: Brittany, for Brandon. He's none too subtle about it either.
 * Meaningful Echo: Fang's ratings of physical pain. Pretty much anything exchanged between Bug and Alex, but most notably: "It feels fucking great."
 * Motifs: There are animal motifs, religious motifs, and mirror motifs.
 * Ms. Exposition: Jeanne-Baptiste, whose only purpose as a character is to explain how some souls are just too evil to stay dead.
 * Never Found the Body: The set-up. Unusually,.
 * Never Trust a Trailer: Not as bad as most, but there was some stuff shown out of context, particularly scenes from near the beginning of the movie that took place 16 years prior to the main events (most notably a news broadcast). There are a couple clips shot just for the trailer as well.
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Leah kicks the crap out of Bug.
 * The Not-Secret: Everyone knew about but the Riverton Seven....
 * Obfuscating Disability: Jerome, who (although legitimately blind) pretends he "accidentally" went into the girls' bathroom instead of the boys' to support a recon mission for Bug and Alex.
 * Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Used copiously by The Ripper, but subverted once.
 * Obfuscating Disability: Jerome, who (although legitimately blind) pretends he "accidentally" went into the girls' bathroom instead of the boys' to support a recon mission for Bug and Alex.
 * Pre-Mortem One-Liner: Used copiously by The Ripper, but subverted once.

"That's for shut the fuck up!""

""She's in my prayer group. Duh.""
 * Promotion to Parent:
 * Red Herring:.
 * Scare Chord: But of course.
 * Ship Sinking: An in-universe example: Fang makes sure Brittany doesn't get any ideas about hooking up with Bug by insisting that Brandon is a better match for her, even though Brittany's reaction implies she might have a crush on Bug. May also tries to do this with Bug by saying Brittany is a little too "sophisticated" for him..
 * Split Personality: The Riverton Ripper. One of them is evil.
 * Actually, the majority of the movie (after the opening) is arguably an inversion of this.
 * Spoiler Opening: Sort of.
 * Stalker With a Crush: Very minor example. Alex gets Bug to go along with his "recon mission" by convincing him that he'll get to hear what Brittany thinks of him. So Bug plants his cell phone in the girls' bathroom and the two listen in on the conversation.
 * Stupid Evil: Yeah, Ripper, try to pin the murders of 6 people,  on a  . I'm sure nobody will question that.
 * Teens Are Monsters: Riverton's high school is rife with bullying, drug use and general jerkassery. No authority figure seems to be able to put a stop to it.
 * They're Called "Personal Issues" for A Reason: Leah torments Bug out of resentment for their past, and never says a thing about it until he lays down an Armor-Piercing Question. She confesses, and flies into a rage afterwards by destroying a dollhouse with a guitar.
 * Token Wholesome: Played with: fervent Christian girl Penelope is also the school' pariah, although - at times - she proves to be far less naive than she looks, as when.
 * They're Called "Personal Issues" for A Reason: Leah torments Bug out of resentment for their past, and never says a thing about it until he lays down an Armor-Piercing Question. She confesses, and flies into a rage afterwards by destroying a dollhouse with a guitar.
 * Token Wholesome: Played with: fervent Christian girl Penelope is also the school' pariah, although - at times - she proves to be far less naive than she looks, as when.


 * Trailers Always Spoil:
 * Unusual Euphemism: "Crotch dog."
 * We Need a Distraction: Fang instructs Brittany to do this to a security officer so Brandon can punch Bug and Alex.
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: Arguably the Animal Motif of the condor. The idea established at the end seems to be . Whether that's sufficient is up to you.
 * The slash marks in Bug's shirt are diagonal down the shoulder blades, exactly where a set of angel wings would be.
 * What Happened to The Mouse?: We never found out if Fang was telling the truth about.
 * Why was "Vengeance" etched into the blade of the Ripper's knife? What was he getting vengeance for? Why was he killing people at all?