Obviously,
Leah Reyes must be a weird kid, because she goes to a book signing. In this
case, it is a book on the occult. As a moody goth kid, she is quite interested
in black magic rituals—too interested for her own good. As a result, she will
be the one most at risk from the evil spirit she summons in Adam MacDonald’s Pyewacket (trailer here), which releases
today on DVD and BluRay.
Forget
about the stupid cat in Bell, Book, and
Candle. The familiar supposedly sleuthed out by Matthew Hopkins, the
notorious witch-finder general, is closer in nature, but this Pyewacket is one
seriously insidious entity. Reyes and her mother had been getting on poorly
since her father’s death. Frankly, the older woman bears some responsibility.
Her drinking and insensitive comments did not help much, but her decision to
move to an isolated cabin up north was really the last straw. So, Reyes went
into the woods to perform a ceremony invoking Pyewacket, to kill her mother.
Shortly
thereafter, Reyes realizes she might have slightly over-reacted, but what’s
done is done. Soon, she can see and hear signs Pyewacket is out there stalking
her oblivious mother. Unfortunately, the gothy friends she was so upset to
leave are not much help either, so she will pretty much be on her own, trying
to get the toothpaste back in the tube.
Pyewacket is a major step up
for MacDonald, whose last film was the just-okay outdoor survival thriller, Backcountry. Basically, Pyewacket is nine parts twenty-teens moody
indie horror (don’t call it “post-horror”) and one part old school satanic (or
Pyewacketic) panic. He builds the fear slowly and subtly through some carefully
composed scenes. Pyewacket is mostly outside our field of vision, but his
presence is keenly felt.
With
its uncompromising depiction of family dysfunction, Pyewacket also shares a kinship with Hereditary and The Babadook.
Nicole Muñoz does a terrific job humanizing the Leah, the resentful goth. Chloe
Rose also freaks out quite memorably as Janice, the friend who has a bit of a
bad experience. James McGowan should also earn the attention of a lot of
casting directors with his brief but significant turn as bestselling occult
writer Rowan Dove.
