It
is summer vacation—prime time for slashers. However, a sullen teen working at a
marina will face a danger that is earthier and more supernatural and pagan in nature.
Of course, he still has the universal teen problems relating to girls and his
family, but he also suspects some kind of forest entity is preying on the
summer renters next door in the Pierce Brothers’ The Wretched, which releases
today at select drive-ins and on VOD platforms.
Ben’s
parents are divorcing and he is not so subtly siding with his mother, so he is
anticipating spending summer vacation working for his marina-managing father Liam
like it is root-canal. To make matters even more awkward, he soon discovers the
old man is already dating a co-worker. Hanging out by the lake might sound like
a cool summer job, but Ben is keenly aware of his “townie” status. He even
ruins a promising flirtation with Mallory, a cool co-worker.
As
if his teen alienation were not bad enough, Ben starts noticing strange
behavior next door. One night, he returns to Liam’s house, finding the
neighbors’ six-ish year-old son Dillon shivering in fright of his mother.
Eventually, his father collects him, but the following day Dillon has
disappeared and his father seems to have no memory of him. With the help of the
internet, Ben soon concludes an ancient tree-witch has gotten its claws into
the next-door family. Unfortunately, it also knows that he knows.
Wretched
never
tries to get to fancy, but it doesn’t need to, because the Pierces so effectively
balance elements from the pagan and randy teen horror traditions. Without
question, the best parts of the film involve Ben’s relationship with Mallory.
It would be overstating matters to directly compare The Wretched to WarGames
or Rear Window (seriously, no), but you can see how those films
might have influenced their scenes together, which is definitely something.
John-Paul
Howard is so believable as Ben, it is almost empathically painful to watch. Piper
Curda (a survivor of the Disney TV factory) is really terrific as Mallory, as
well. Her performance is funny and dynamic, suggesting she could a grown-up
genre star of the future. Jamison Jones also brings out greater human dimensions
in Liam than we usually see in angsty teen horror parents.
This
is a surprising film in many ways, including a big, ambitious twist that works
shockingly well. In fact, The Wretched is cleverly executed from start to
finish (except for the tacked-on standard issue horror movie denouement). The
engaging cast also really sells both the supernatural stuff and the teen drama.
Very highly recommended for horror fans, The Wretched opens today (5/1)
at the Jesup, Sparta, Starlight, Ocala, Mission Tiki, and West Wind Glendale
& Sacramento drive-ins and releases day-and-date on VOD.
