My Soul to Take

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.