It gets October right, but Cobweb leaves quite a few unanswered questions. One of the queries I always bring to movies is “where did it happen?”. This isn’t, of course, the same thing as where it’s filmed. Cobweb was filmed in Bulgaria—that certainly gives it an atmospheric feel. It’s set, however, somewhere in the United States. License plates aren’t shown long enough to really help, but a refrigerator magnet in the shape of Pennsylvania may be a hint. In any case, the story’s a bit of a stretch, and it has some continuity issues, but I may come back to it in a future October. The acting is pretty good, but the direction could be tighter. So what’s it all about? (There will be spoilers.)
A young boy, Peter, is bullied at school. His parents are odd and they never believe Peter when he hears noises at night. Or so they say. As with much horror, things are not what they seem. Peter’s parents had a somewhat Poesque solution to what turns out to be Peter’s older sister. Born deformed, they made a pit in the basement to house her. She gets out into the walls of the house, and talks to Peter at night. We all know you should never listen to creepy voices in the dark, but she tells her brother he should defend himself from bullies. And when he gets expelled from school for doing so, she suggests he give his parents the “We Have Always Lived in the Castle” treatment. In support of this, she points out where he can find the body his parents buried in the back yard. Now, there are many pumpkin-sized holes in the plot, but for a movie embodying October, I’m willing to let it pass. Spooky rather than outright scary, the film does have some fairly tense moments.
Rescue comes at the hands of a teacher—and this is always a heartening development. The name, “Miss Devine,” awoke hopes that maybe some traditional religious elements might appear, but no. It seems to have been from the lineage of Miss Honey from Matilda. She does read Poe’s “The Raven” to her class, though. Overall she’s a teacher who has her students’ best interests at heart, particularly those who are sad. The message is a little more difficult to discern. Other than Peter and Miss Devine, pretty much everybody else is unlikeable. Parents are murderers, sister a manipulative monster (even if made so by said parents), and all the other kids pick on Peter. A good October effort, Cobweb is a story that needs some direction.
