This is under Q because of actress Gabriela Quezada Bloomgarden.
Director: Brett Pierce, Drew T Pierce
Writer: Brett Pierce, Drew T Pierce (Screenplay)
Starring: John-Paul Howard, Piper Curda, Jamison Jones, Azie Tesfai, Zarah Mahler, Kevin Bigley, Gabriela Quezada Bloomgarden
Plot: A defiant teenage boy, struggling with his parents’ imminent divorce, faces off with a thousand year-old witch, who is living beneath the skin of and posing as the woman next door.
Tagline – Something wicked wants inside.
Runtime: 1 Hour 35 Minutes
There may be spoilers in the rest of the review
Story: The Wretched starts as Ben (Howard) and his father Liam (Jones) are living together after the divorce, which will see Ben looking over the neighbours, noticing something isn’t right, with the son Dillon who seems to be spooked by something in his house.
When the neighbor continues to act weird Ben continues to watch over the family only to learn there is a much more sinister creature living next door, looking for victims.
Thoughts on The Wretched
Characters & Performances – Ben is a teenager who has been struggle with his parent’s divorce, he is getting used to his new life but soon starts to find himself noticing strange things in the neighbours and starts to try to learn the truth about what is happening, nobody wants to listen to anything he is saying and he must prove what is going on alone. John-Paul Howard does give us a role that we are used to seeing a female character take more often than not. Mallory is the new love interest for Ben who has been getting to know Ben and showing around town, she is one of the few that will help Ben looking into everything, only she isn’t completely behind his ideas. Piper Curda does give this character a bigger impact than the script would like to. Abbie is the neighbor who starts acting strange, she either lurks or gets right into someone face, using the change she is going through to give everything about her a much more sinister nature, one which would make you fear being around her. Zarah Mahler gives this character the fear factor we need, never looking like an everyday neighbour, as we often see her through the eyes of Ben. We do meet other characters including Ben’s father who is trying to move on with his life, but believes Ben is playing up to stop that and the other potential victims of what is going on.
Story – The story follows a teenager that starts to believe something strange is happening in his neighbour’s home, which will lead him to investigate, only for him to learn the shocking truth about what is going in the house. This does have the core story of rather generic characters, but where this story truly stands out, is where the evil goes, seeing what they are up to in this world, will leave you shocked. It is nice to see a horror that doesn’t hold back and doesn’t give us a true answer to everything going on, waiting for us to see everything unfold. The story does dive into a myth and legend, which only adds depth to everything involved with the evil we see.
Themes – The Wretched isn’t afraid to bring the horror, with tension and blood curdling moments, the evil is always sinister and is slowly being revealed to us, like it is to Ben. The locations used in the film will include the home, which isn’t as safe as you would like it to be, along with the forest which has eviler than anyone could have imagined in it.
The Wretched is a horror with great scares, creations despite the two dimensional characters holding things back.