Witches are often a problem for Hollywood. Tonally, the canvas is just too broad. There’s the potential for elegant historical horror (see 2015’s The Witch), youthful adventure (such as 1990’s The Witches), romantic comedy (done best in 1987’s The Witches of Eastwick, indie sensations (1999’s The Blair Witch Project made 4,000 times as much as its budget), prestige drama (1996’s The Crucible was nominated for multiple Oscars), VOD gems (check out 2016’s The Autopsy of Jane Doe), and more. While the aforementioned films are all worthy in one way or another, the majority of witch pics don’t get it right, either by pulling too many punches or failing to provide any backstory for the witch outside of her womanhood or by adhering to overdone history (for instance, it’s usually wise to avoid anything with Salem in the title). This tricky landscape is what makes Brett Pierce and Drew T. Pierce’s The Wretched a success; it not only comes up with a relatively original cinematic witch, it also devotes time and attention to her story and the malevolent toolbox with which she wreaks havoc.
The Wretched follows Ben (a suitably able and likable John-Paul Howard), a teenager who moves to his dad’s small-town bachelor pad while his parents work out their divorce. There is a family vacationing in the house next door, and the houses are conveniently arranged so that Ben can easily spy from the comfort of his dad’s house. Which is lucky, because the neighbors need watching: they’re acting really weird. We’re also shown a demonic forest-witch emerging from a roadside animal carcass, so things look like they’re going to go downhill fast. When he’s not busy flirting with a local girl named Mallory (Piper Curda), Ben pulls out his binoculars and starts spying.
The witch’s powers are intriguing and timely. She’s strongly linked to the environment, and can take over bodies and then erase any memory of the person she’s possessing. It’s a devastating power, and it adds a genuine weight to the plight of the film’s victims. Eco-horror is becoming more and more relevant, but, like witches, it is hard to get right. The Pierces do well to let the audience draw their own “messages” from the scenarios they set forth. It’s a film with a point, but one that the viewer must piece together for herself.
The “evil next door” scenario is nothing new, but The Wretched is derivative in all the right ways. For the most part, it cherry picks from great films like Rear Window, Invasion of the Body Snatchers, Fright Night and even Halloween. The ending is the least inventive part of the film—in terms of the overall plot and its references—though it’s still pretty scary.
Like Halloween, The Wretched maintains its horror tone while showing teenagers actually being teenagers. This allows for comedic and melodramatic moments, but those don’t turn this into a horror comedy. This tonal consistency is important, considering how many directions the Pierce brothers could have gone with their witch, and the consistent creepiness of the film is admirable. The Wretched is just the second film for the Pierce brothers (who also wrote the screenplay) and it’s a major step up from their 2011 zombie comedy Deadheads. They’ve put together a frightening, fun film, one that really makes an effort to establish its central witch as the most fascinating part.
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