THE WRETCHED
US, 2019, 93 minutes, Colour.
John- Paul Howard, Piper Curda, Jamerson Jones, Azie Tesfai, Zarah Mahler, Kevin Bigley.
Directed by the Pierce Brothers.
The Wretched has a box office distinction – top of the US box office at the time of covid-19 and most of the cinemas in the United States being closed. It had reasonable reviews.
This is a horror film, a film about thousand-year-old witches, taking over children, monstrous and cannibals. However, this description might make it sound more horrifying than the film actually is.
There is a horror prologue, set “35 years ago� indicating eerie houses, babysitters and their fate, mothers and children, takeover by clawing monsters. It is an indicator prologue rather than having any direct connection with characters when the caption comes up “five days ago�.
The central character is Ben (John -Paul Howard), 17 years old. With the focus on him and his experiences, The Wretched seems more of a Young Adult horror film than one for the horror and gore expert fans. They will probably find it rather mild. However, the monster is visualised and there are a number of tense moments.
Ben is living with his mother, his parents ready for a divorce, his father harbourmaster. Ben goes to stay with him doing jobs on the harbour front, meeting a fellow worker, Mallory (Piper Curda) and befriending her and her little sister, Lily. Ben is looked down on by the socialite teenagers but does accept an invitation to a party, trapped into going into the pool, his trunks removed and his being embarrassed in having to run away naked.
He becomes far more involved in watching the family next door, their little boy is one of those involved in harbour activities. Ben (and we) see the mother transformed into a monstrous witch, the little boy disappearing, Ben challenging the father who claims to have no knowledge of having a son. Ben does confide in his father who dismisses his concerns.
Ben becomes more active, goes into the house next door, into the basement, discovers a kind of shrine to some kind of evil power, with its own sign, photos of families with some of the characters scratched out, goes out to rescue Lily but sees her being dragged into the woods and disappearing down a vast hole in a tree trunk.
Of course, Ben decides to rescue the boy and the girl, his father disbelieving (only for his girlfriend to be bewitched) and sending him off with the policeman who has an ominous scar down his neck. This is where the film moves out of the bright sunlight of the earlier part of the film, during the day, on the water, and turns dark and ominous. But, Ben as the hero, confronts the witch, goes down the tree hole…
All’s well that ends well despite his father being injured by the witch, the suggestion that mother and father might get together again, a farewell to Mallory who goes out on a boat with a group of children to train – and the suggestion, of course, that she could be taken over and these children in peril. The Wretched 2 is not impossible!
1. The title? The tone? For a horror film? A monster story? The monster as wretched? The victims?
2. The setting, the sea, boats, the harbour office? The playgrounds for children? The woods in the background? The houses, the interiors, basements? The woods and the monstrous tree? The musical score?
3. The prologue, 35 years earlier, the babysitter, the mother and child, opening the door, the monsters, cannibalism? As a prologue rather than as a link to the characters and events that follow? Five days earlier?
4. A horror film for the young adult audience? Ben, age 17, his parents divorcing, with his mother and phone calls, staying with his father, at the house, his father as harbourmaster, the relationship? His work? The encounter with Mallory? Their friendship, Lily, her sister? The young people on the boat, the taunts, his putting the rubbish on the boat, the bully and fighting? The invitation to the party, in the pool, the trick with his trunks, leaving naked?
5. His relationship with his father, some tensions, his being grounded, his disobedience? His father and his relationship with Sara?
6. Ben, watching the people next door, the family, Nathan and his outings at the harbour? The audience seeing Nathan with his mother, at home with the father?
7. The transformation of the mother, becoming monstrous, Ben looking out the windows, her misshapen body? The effect on her husband? The disappearance of Nathan? Ben confronting the husband, his knowing nothing of his son? Explaining this to his father and his father not believing him? His continued searching and watching? Going to the cellar, the threats, his escapes?
8. Nathan, the disappearance, the concern about Lily, going into the woods, discovering the tree, the vast emptiness?
9. Ben and his researchers about witches, on the Witchipedia?
10. The buildup to the climax, the passing of the five days, Ben and his anxiety, the threats from the wife turned into a monster? The husband and his behaviour? Ben at the tree, the monstrous grabbing at him, his falling hitting his head? Returning home, his father’s anger, the police, Sara and her being transformed into a monster, the drooping flowers, the attack on Ben, the axe, his father discovering it, Sara’s performance?
11. The father sending Ben away with the police officer, the scar on his neck, driving to the water, his trying to drown Ben? The gun, the policeman shooting himself?
12. Ben’s father, his son pleading with him, his decision to go to the house, the basement, the search, upstairs, the husband hanging? The monsters and the attack, his being wounded? Getting out of the house?
13. Mallory, the salt and surrounding the tree, Ben’s going into the hole with the rope, rescuing Nathan, the pursuit by the monster, rescuing Lily? His father arriving just in time to save him?
14. The happy ending? How convincing the seeming final suspicion on Mallory? Would she be taken over by the monster – and the fate of the children with her?
