The Wretched

The Wretched compiles elements, plot twists and characters from other films in various ways – it's hard to come up with something new these days – but it still manages to surprise in places. The film doesn't have that many scary scares and the blood is also spared, but that's not a bad thing – as they say, less is more. Moving past the various genre clichés, I was quite impressed by the plot about forgetting and especially by the few surprises awaiting at the end. Last but not least, I would like to highlight the visual of the witch and the graphic design of the opening credits. (02/08/2020)

Very good horror for 12 year-olds, and I don’t mean it in a bad way. It has likeable characters and a vicious demon immersed in an original concept, though in the end it surrenders to a well-known template, giving up the chance to surprise or shock. To watch once, though, it’s alright, especially perhaps with an easily scared girlfriend after a glass of wine (I watched it alone after several beers and maybe that’s why I’m not more satisfied). 60% (19/09/2020)

Solid and atmospheric witch horror! I've been waiting for The Wretched for quite a long time and the positive feedback from festivals only confirmed that this is a really good piece of work. The story focuses on a young teenager who notices the strange behaviour of his neighbour, who transforms into a 1000 year old witch, and an atmospheric old school inferno begins. The film has a very good atmosphere, an interesting mythological backstory, perfect make-up work, enough suspense and likeable actors to keep the viewer's attention. The finale underground is quite possibly the scariest sequence of the year so far. Surprise. Story***, Action***, Humor>No, Violence***, Entertainment****, Music***, Visual****, Atmosphere****, Suspense****. 7.5/10. (01/05/2020)

A generally tolerable horror flick with some interesting visual ideas and, most of all, relatively sympathetic central characters (which similar movies often don’t have). It borrows various elements from Fright Night, Evil Dead and Disturbia, except The Wretched does not specify the powers and limitations of the witch, so that new things happen more or less all the time, as if the screenwriters had thrown in anything that came handy. For a while, I wondered if the story twist in the last third of the film made any sense. But I then concluded that it simply doesn’t matter, because the twist is completely irrelevant and futile, doesn’t take the movie anywhere nor does it redistribute the cards—it only creates that instant WTF effect, which dissolves as quick as it came. With a cohesive concept, it could have been very decent. (14/08/2020)

I had hoped to be more forgiving when Pierce ditched the slapstick, that crunchy girl at the end is pretty cool, and crawling through underground tunnels with a gun always gives me flashbacks to the Vietcong. But it's really not worth it. The film spends most of its time trying to build some sort of rapport between the characters, revealing what terrible dead wood everyone involved is in terms of acting. Plus, a third of the dialogue is about food, because people probably don't have any other topics these days. The film could have ended about halfway through if the protagonist hadn't started babbling complete nonsense and instead just mentioned the neighbors' missing child. It feels artificial because the medium close-ups and close-ups have an exaggerated depth of field that pulls the characters out of their surroundings, and if I'm trying to create the illusion of menace coming from the forest, it’s simply not going to work unless I can shoot the forest in such a way that it doesn't feel like an city park. (27/10/2020)