“I Like This House…” – Sara

When it comes to the horror genre, sometimes you don’t desire a film that sets out to rewrite the rules of spine-tingling storytelling. Instead, you occasionally find yourself simply wanting to dim the lights and ensconce with a low-budget popcorn flick, and 2019’s The Wretched is firmly one of those films. With appealingly modest ambitions, The Wretched utilises its cast of unknowns, unique creature design and admirable emphasis on body horror as effectively as its thin budget will allow. And, even though the film is far from a game-changer for the realm of supernatural horror, The Wretched still manages to overcome most of its flaws to serve as an engaging, if fairly foreseeable, tale of witchcraft and body-snatching.

Plot Summary: After being sent to live with his father for the summer on account of his parents’ imminent divorce, defiant teenager Ben begins to suspect there is something wrong with his father’s next-door neighbour, eventually discovering that there is an execrable entity lurking beneath her skin…

Originally titled; Hag, before being changed following negative feedback from test audiences. The Wretched was certainly a departure for writer-director duo Brett Pierce and Drew T. Pierce, as the pair’s prior film, Deadheads, released in 2011, was a zombie road-trip comedy. Even so, this leap in tone and genre rarely seems to impair The Wretched from a directorial standpoint, as the film leaps headfirst into its grim tone and horrifying visuals right from the opening scene. And, whilst the film struggles to balance its plot threads from time to time, it quickly becomes clear that the central source of inspiration for the story was the low-budget creature-features of the 1980s, tied together with a desire to create a newfangled interpretation of witchcraft and revitalise hags into terrifying antagonists.

Acting out since his parents’ separation, seventeen-year-old Ben, competently portrayed by John-Paul Howard, is the protagonist. And, while it’s always challenging to portray an angsty teenager, due to the concern of said character becoming incredibly abrasive, Howard pulls it off successfully, portraying Ben as a frustrated and confused adolescent struggling to come to terms with his altered life. Furthermore, The Wretched even aims to justify the common horror trope of parents not believing their children once the supernatural occurrences begin, as when Ben attempts to explain the situation to his father, Ben’s past transgressions of trespassing and stealing medicine come to light, prompting his father to dismiss his claims as either lies or delusions. The supporting cast, including Piper Curda, Jamison Jones, Azie Tesfai and Zarah Mahler, is also serviceable in their minor roles as members of the lakeside community where his father resides.

Shot near Omena and Northport, Michigan, close to the Pierce brothers’ hometown, the cinematography for The Wretched by Conor Murphy often ranges in quality as some scenes are beautifully shot, with a strong emphasis on close-ups, whereas others (usually during conversations between characters) merely rely on dull, hand-held shots. With that said, when working in synch with each other, the camerawork and lighting do a remarkable job of masking the creature early on in the story, only giving the audience brief glimpses of the witch in her contorted, feral state before later displaying the film’s full range of prosthetic make-up and practical effects.

Excluding the ominous theme for the titular witch heard in the tracks; Woods and The Wretched Appears, both of which feature avant-garde strings led by a manipulated sarangi, the original score by Devin Burrows admittedly has some room for improvement as tracks, like Don’t Let Her In, Honey… Beer? and Broken Window repeatedly overuse strings and brass horns to the point where the tracks become too disruptive to the narrative, often mismatching with whatever shot is on-screen.

Of course, the witch herself is unquestionably the film’s primary draw, and The Wretched presents its titular creature with pride, making sure to include all of the most off-putting aspects of the creature’s devilish design and malicious nature. And, whilst the witch isn’t grounded in any specific mythology, with the screenplay only providing minor hints towards its origins, the witch’s carved symbols, salt fragility and quasi-religious shrines all give the creature an element of personality when outside of its human disguise. Speaking of which, the way the creature is presented when inside a body is just as disturbing as we, the audience, along with Ben, observe how the witch practically lives the life of the person whose skin she now inhabits, caring for her decaying body the best she can as the Wretched attempts to act human, each day climbing closer to feasting on the unfortunate children of the mother she is impersonating.

In summary, although The Wretched isn’t as polished as it could be in certain areas, I feel this well-paced horror flick will please most genre fanatics, even in spite of its occasional visual continuity errors, corny dialogue and lack of focus regarding the dual plot lines. The Wretched still delivers on its promise of a skin-crawling creature-feature reminiscent of ’80s cult classics. The film is also one of the few horror films I’d personally like to see a sequel or prequel to someday, as I feel the concept of a witch that feeds on the forgotten is an intriguing idea that doesn’t reach its full potential here, but undoubtedly could in a more refined film. Rating: 6/10.