“The Wretched” Film Review
By: Joseph Perry (Twitter)
When It Was Cool readers who grew up on such classic fear fare — or shared it with their offspring — as the Goosebumps novels and TV series, and such other TV anthology series as Monsters, Are You Afraid of the Dark? , Amazing Stories, Tales from the Darkside, and the like will find plenty to love in The Wretched, the new film co-written and co-directed by brothers Brett Pierce and Drew T. Pierce. This coming-of-age supernatural terror tale has all the charms of those creepy shows of yesteryear, with relatable teen protagonists, but adds an extra wallop of gruesomeness and suspense, as it is aimed at the now-adults who fondly devoured those programs, along with any other horror material they could get their hands on.
Teenager Ben (John-Paul Howard) is starting off his summer on a low note, being sent to spend the season with his father and his father’s new girlfriend after having gotten into trouble at his mother’s. Ben’s criminal act resulted in him breaking his arm. His dad Liam (Jamison Jones) is the head honcho at the local marina, and he gifts Ben with a seasonal job there. Ben finds instant, if a bit awkward, chemistry with fellow employee Mallory (Piper Curda); their first attempt at a kiss is interrupted by Ben hurling after too much drinking.
Soon enough, Ben spends his a great deal of his off-hours trying to crack the mystery of the disappearance of his neighbors’ son. What he will soon learn is that a witch has taken over the body of his next-door neighbor, Abbie (Zarah Mahler, who is super in both her roles: a loving mother and an evil witch who chillingly tries to replicate Abbie’s human behaviors). This woods-dwelling witch is not to be taken lightly, as she has the power to make parents and siblings forget their own children and brothers and sisters, respectively.
Because of his recent bad behavior and his stories about Abbie that grow ever wilder, those around Ben find it hard to believe him. That spells potentially deadly trouble for the inquisitive teen and those close to him, including Mallory, who does something to coax the investigation on a little too strong for Ben’s liking.
The Pierce brothers create an engrossing mythology for their witch, and they deliver suspense, shocks, and gory, goopy practical effects galore to complement winning performances from their cast members. Along with the television influences mentioned above, there are nods to Alfred Hitchcock’s Rear Window and the original 1985 version of Fright Night, along with creeping paranoia à la Invasion of the Body Snatchers. The Wretched is a top-notch “curiosity could kill the teens” spooky movie relatable to both current teens and teens of the past who grew up on scary stories and long for fantastic movies like this.
The Wretched, presented by IFC Midnight, premieres May 1 in select theaters and on digital and cable VOD.
Joseph Perry is one of the hosts of When It Was Cool’s exclusive Uphill Both Ways podcast (whenitwascool.com/up-hill-both-ways-podcast/) and Gruesome Magazine’s Decades of Horror: The Classic Era podcast (decadesofhorror.com/category/classicera/). He also writes for the film websites Diabolique Magazine (diaboliquemagazine.com), Gruesome Magazine (gruesomemagazine.com), The Scariest Things (scariesthings.com), Ghastly Grinning (ghastlygrinning.com), and Horror Fuel (horrorfuel.com), and film magazines Phantom of the Movies’ VideoScope (videoscopemag.com) and Drive-In Asylum (etsy.com/shop/GroovyDoom).
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