THE WRETCHED | Horror Review

First teased in 2019, and released finally in 2020 "The Wretched" found it's audience among horror indie fans. Me being one of them. The film itself follows a teenage boy with a criminal history who witnesses the otherworldly happenings of the families within his local town. When the film opens up we are first teased with what amounts to the end of the film. One of those starting at the end, and finishing with a full fledged trip throughout what led up to that horrific scenario types of deals. In that teaser we find a babysitter showing up for work in a house that is abnormally quiet. The child is supposedly asleep, and the babysitter chats on the phone to a friend about her job. Interrupted by a noise in the home she lets her friend go to investigate. This leads to her going into the basement. Upon descending the stairs she sees a woman in a rocking chair cradling, and eating a child. This child is of course the kid the babysitter was sent to watch. The woman in the chair feasts upon the lifeless body of the child as blood drips to the floor. Panicked the babysitter runs back upstairs only to be stopped short in her tracks by the man of the house. He slams the basement door in her face, and locks it leaving only blood curdling screams to be heard. The camera pans out outside the basement revealing strange markings etched into the basement door. The film then cuts to several months earlier ...

Following the teaser we find the origins of the cause of the horror. It stems from a mother, and son outing in some undisclosed wooded area. A place where the son of the mother sees a tree manifest with an outreaching arm that quickly disappears when the mother catches up. He notices a strange marking on a nearby tree which also teases future events, and encounters. Coincidentally being the same marking as in the teaser intro. Fast forward a little bit, and the mother and son make it home with a deer on the bed of the family pick-up truck. The mother and son enter their house where the mother explains her interest in preparing deer for consumption, and goes out to give her son a life lesson in survival of the fittest. Gore ensues, and the boy goes in while the mother deals with what's left of the deer. This then leads to the teased scene of the forest witch crawling out of the deer carcass in full-on contortionist fashion. 

That night when the first family is settled in bed the neighbor which houses the troubled teenage boy, and his father has said teenager observing his neighbor's property. He sees something odd, and goes to investigate. In that investigation he catches a glimpse of the dark witch on the porch of the family's house, but not clearly enough. He is stopped short by the inquisitive father. He heads back home ...

That same night, or a few nights later in the neighbor's house the mother finds her youngest baby missing in the cradle, and goes to investigate. This leads to the first scare, and creature encounter. It seems the dark witch took the baby, and set a trap for the mother. The mother falls for it, and is dragged under the crib. The witch in turn taking over her body. Later on the older son notices the mother's strange behavior. Her contorting, and standing naked in the hallway. He tries to warn his father, but ultimately his father is put under a spell by the witch. At some point further the witch takes the son. That is when the teenage neighbor's main role comes into play.

The teenage boy spends part of the film after those initial plot points conversing with his father while hinting at parts of his past. At times mentioning his absent mother from the divorced marriage. He even makes friends with one of the local girls who works as one of his father's employees at the local boating docks. There's some playful teenage rebellion in the mix including some partying, and sexy time in the pool with a girl who actually does the teenage boy dirty by taking his clothes, and bailing so that the other party goers can laugh at his nakedness. In this character history building we learn that the teenage boy was formerly arrested for breaking, and entering as well as drug use. This falls into place later on when the horror aspect of the film ramps up. 

After we get to know the main player that is the teenager we get to follow his investigation into the disappearances of the neighbor's children as well as the sister of the girl he befriended. The boy is labeled as paranoid, and delusional almost immediately with his past records coming back to bite him in the ass. It isn't until the father, and his new girlfriend become acquainted though that the father believes the son. It takes the son getting in trouble with the law for trespassing on the neighbors property in an attempt to try and prove something weird is going on that his words are finally heard. Leading to the father finding out that his girlfriend is now the new skin suit for the witch. 

After some additional encounters with the law, and the witch the son, and the son's girlfriend decide to confront the source of the problem head on in the forest in order to reclaim or rescue the captured children. They find the witch's tree, and the son dives in for the rescue. Managing to save his own brother whom he had forgotten existed as well as his girlfriend's sister, but not the neighbor's child. They seemingly make it out alive, and with the father's help burn the tree thinking it's all over, and done with. Then comes the final twist with a bit of confusion as it does not circle back to that teaser intro, but instead hints in the boy's and father's leaving the town, and that the witch has claimed a certain someone else's body ...

The Verdict ...

For what it's worth the pacing, past the abrupt beginning was alright. There was enough time spent on character building, and plot points that the intertwining events made sense. It wasn't deep seeded storytelling, but it was enough for the viewer to get connected to what is happening. As far as creature effects go the gore, and the witch herself were basically performers with prosthetics, and make-up. It was effective enough for the scares, and made for an interesting horror element. The twitching, and contorting of the taken over host bodies were also a nice touch. Adding that extra creepy factor to it all. The acting, and actors were also mostly fitting for what transpired though the girl who played the teenage boy's love interest was a bit mediocre in her performance. Fitting in like a B-Movie actress. The teenage boy, or protagonist on the other hand did a good job portraying his character. He seemed a lot like the first Final Destinations lead guy with his paranoia, and suspicions. As far as the setting goes it was fitting as well. The night and day situations as well as the locale helped to heighten the intensity of the increasingly fearful situation. The only part of the film I felt lost me was the ending which did not come directly full circle to the teased ending intro. I felt a bit confused, and honestly felt the ending of the trip back through where it all started could have been handled a little better. Overall it wasn't all that bad, but definitely was not perfect.