My Soul to Take is a 2010 American slasher film written and directed by Wes Craven. It is his first film since 1994's Wes Craven's New Nightmare that he wrote, produced, and directed. The film stars Max Thieriot as Adam "Bug" Hellerman, who is one of seven teenagers chosen to die following the anniversary of a serial killer's death. Denzel Whitaker, Raul Esparza, and Shareeka Epps also star. The film's title comes from a line in the prayer "Now I Lay Me Down to Sleep", which reads "If I should die before I wake, I pray the Lord my soul to take." Craven previously used the prayer as a mantra by Nancy Thompson in A Nightmare on Elm Street.
The film was released on October 8, 2010. It was unsuccessful at the box office, grossing just $21 million against its $25 million budget, and received mostly negative reviews from critics.
Plot
Family man Abel Plenkov, a sufferer of dissociative identity disorder, accidentally discovers that he is the Riverton Ripper, a local, masked serial killer. After killing his pregnant wife, Sarah, and then his psychiatrist, he is shot down and carted away in an ambulance, leaving his young daughter Leah and premature son orphaned. On the way to the hospital, a paramedic suggests that Plenkov himself is innocent but that he houses multiple souls, with the Ripper's being one of them. Near death, Plenkov unexpectedly revives, slashing the paramedic in the throat, causing the ambulance to crash and burn.
Seven children who were born on the day of Plenkov's death and supposedly carry the traits of his personalities are dubbed the Riverton Seven. Sixteen years later, the Riverton Seven – blind Jerome, loser Alex, imaginative Jay, timid Bug, religious Penelope, beautiful Brittany, and jock Brandon — gather for the annual ritual of "killing" a Ripper puppet to superstitiously prevent his return. Bug is elected but fails. Not long after, Jay is murdered by the reappeared Ripper. At home, Bug begins to redo a class project, exhibiting Jay's creativity.
At school, Brandon torments Bug and Alex on orders of Fang, a tyrannical bully. Bug and Alex decide to spy on Fang to see if Brittany has a crush on him. During their surveillance, Fang cruelly alleges that Bug had previously been in institutions for killing people. Bug begins unwittingly imitating the rest of the Riverton Seven, as well as Fang. Penelope, having predicted the Ripper's return as well as their deaths, is the next one killed. Brandon and Brittany discover her body in the woods and are both stabbed to death also.
That night, Fang, who is revealed to be Bug's sister and going by her name of Leah, gives her brother a birthday present: a rocking horse created by Abel Plenkov. Angrily, she unveils the truth that had long been hidden: that they are his children and she is the daughter he had failed to kill; Bug had survived in his dead mother's womb albeit born prematurely. Everyone saw him as a miracle, which caused Fang to harbor lifelong resentment towards him; she had been traumatized by the event but he remained innocent of its memory. The two reconcile, but are informed of the murders.
Alex visits a distressed Bug and theorizes that the Ripper's evil soul jumped into one of the Riverton Seven, forcing them to kill off the others. Downstairs, Bug and Fang encounter the Ripper. Just as Bug is about to be killed, the Ripper hears a noise upstairs. Bug goes back to his room, discovering Jerome, mortally wounded, in his closet. After Jerome dies, Alex reappears and suggests that Bug inherited Dissociative Identity Disorder from his father, and had unknowingly killed everyone. Bug rejects this idea. The souls of the dead Seven are now part of him, and together they help him deduce that Alex is, in fact, the one with the Ripper's soul. "Alex" admits guilt and confesses his revenge. He proposes that they kill Fang and pin the murders on Jerome to appear as heroes. Bug refuses, stabbing Alex in the stomach. Freed from the Ripper's soul, Alex dies as himself in a touching moment between best friends.
Although Bug expects to be arrested, Fang tells the police everything, clearing his name. The town proclaims him a hero. Despite not feeling like one, he narrates that he would "fake it good" in order to honor Alex's memory.