The movie wastes no time getting started, with a gruesome murder scene in which a schizophrenic family man (Raul Esparza) who has been killing people around town without his own knowledge ends up murdering his own pregnant wife (Alexandra Wilson), in front of his daughter. He's rendered unconscious by intervening police, but revives on his way to the hospital, attacks the ambulance crew and disappears into the woods.
16 years later, the incident has gone down in legend, and a story has developed around the town that the 7 kids born that fateful night each got a part of the killer's soul, and they ritualistically "kill" an effigy of the killer each year to keep his spirit at bay.
The kids include our main character and hero (Max Thieriot) and his best buddy (John Magaro) who start to wonder if the killer is back when the other members of the 7 start turning up dead. Either the killer's back, they theorize, or someone they know is doing the killing. Either way, not good.
Anyway, while it's a valiant effort, the movie is kind of all over the place. I like all the stuff with the kids and their various relationships with each other, it all comes off pretty well. But, the murder plot doesn't quite seem to click. The mythology around it is a little fuzzy and for most of the movie I wasn't quite clear what Craven might be getting at, if anything.
The friendship between the two male leads in particular is very well played, emotional and interesting, deeper than a relationship between two young dudes is usually allowed to be in what basically amounts to a slasher movie.
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