The Horror Show
The Wretched
by The Pierce Brothers
There is something very familiar about The Wretched. You feel like you’re waiting for that click when the memories of what happens next come flooding back. There are familiar trappings of similar horror outings galore so it’s an impressive feat, then, that this film still manages to stand apart as one of the most original and haunting films to hit us this year.
The overt familiarity could have something to do with the opening flashback to 1985, in which deep synth and heavy era signposting evoke the nostalgia wave currently showing no signs of cresting. Fortunately, it works short, sharp magic of setting up an unsettling premise before catapulting us into present day; though even here we’re not short of a nod or two.
As a non-American, I grew up with TV and film depicting the long days of seemingly endless summers in which friendships were forged, tested, and cut short as another school year began or, worse still, the dreaded college move beckoned. That sense of time in a bottle stuck with me as something poignant and beautiful and meant that I was a sucker for the Stand By Me’s and Goonies of the world. I’ve never grown out of it because, for me, it speaks to the unmatched ability of cinema to round the edges off the world and give us perfect moments, which deft storytellers were then able to manipulate as they saw fit.
This is, in essence, what The Wretched manages to nail; a Hitchcockian suspense horror that sees Ben (John-Paul Howard) head coastward to spend the summer with his father. While their relationship may bear the particular strains of distance and conflicting personalities, it definitely doesn’t help that Ben is charged with trying to convince his dad that a forest-dwelling witch has inhabited the body of his next door neighbour, and is quickly dispatching locals. That old father/son chestnut. As with so many tropes on display throughout, the “grown-ups don’t believe the trouble-making teen” notion is elevated out of mediocrity when it comes to light that, thanks to a little bit of extra witchery, no one has any memory of their abducted loved ones.
Indeed, it is almost as though The Wretched sets up the tropes solely to knock them down and, in lesser-skilled hands, this could easily have been a box ticking exercise of the highest order, but the young-adult leads carry weight in their performances and nothing feels trite or underwritten. Potential love interest and co-lead Mallory (Piper Curda), is given more to do than just that, and you get the feeling even if she weren’t she’d still find a way to outsmart and outshine her male counterpart; such is her charisma. The threat, largely embodied by Abbie (Zarah Mahler), is real, unnerving and doesn’t shy away from crossing the line that lesser horrors would only hint at in several instances.
No spoilers here, but both sight and sound are manipulated with glee to wring chills out of an audience.
Despite a contemporary setting, there is a believable ancient and almost prehistoric aura to the unseen witch’s presence helped largely by the beautiful locations in which the film is shot. Practical effects are on point, too, in a way that kicks the movie into the end zone with major flourish and, overall, the film’s generous reliance on daylight hours to progress its story keeps the Hitchcock vibe alive and well and speaks highly of its well-earned self-confidence right until the credits roll.
The Wretched garnered a certain amount of critical attention a month or two ago (or five years; pandemic time, am I right?) when news broke that it managed to equal Avatar (2009) for its six-week run at number one in the US Box Office. A backlash then occurred as people went in expecting a new generation’s Evil Dead or Exorcist, but the lead that most sources buried was that The Wretched premiered in less than one hundred theatres stateside, and had little to rival it.
Pay no heed to the high bar set by misleading news, nor the low opinions of a few disappointed souls. The Pierce Brothers know what they are doing (interestingly they did in fact spend a portion of their childhood on the set of the OG Evil Dead thanks to father and special effects artist Bart Pierce) and polish the familiar with love and respect for their genre.
A rare instance of summer horror that feels perfectly at home in its own skin, even if it had to borrow some skin to do the job. Buffalo Bill would be proud.
The Wretched is out on DVD and VOD now.
Ryan Kennedy, HMS
The Horror Show Menu.