Things go missing in “The Wretched” — a bunny, a baby, assorted children — and hardly anyone seems to notice. A darkened basement reverberates with eerie, snap-crackle-pop sounds and images that feature ghostly shots of a child’s crib. Something ancient and evil is crawling out of a butchered deer carcass. And it’s hungry.
Opening with a spookily effective, 1980s-set prologue, this old-fashioned witchy brew from Brett and Drew Pierce (billed as the Pierce Brothers) jumps to the present where Ben (John-Paul Howard), a moody teenager, is having trouble dealing with his parents’ divorce. Visiting his father (Jamison Jones) for the summer, Ben takes a job at a marina and befriends Mallory (Piper Curda), a down-to-earth type and perfect sidekick. Especially when the little boy next door disappears and Ben needs help investigating his unsettling mother (Zarah Mahler).
Blessed with shivery setups and freaky effects — here, skin-crawling is literal — “The Wretched” transforms common familial anxieties into flesh, albeit crepey and creeping. With his camera low and slow, the cinematographer, Conor Murphy, builds chills equally from a malevolent tree trunk and a scattering of rain-drenched children’s toys. And as Ben dodges calls from his mother and cooked dinners from his father’s new girlfriend, the movie’s sense of maternal need as a consuming force is repeatedly underlined.
Though indebted to films like Tom Holland’s terrific “Fright Night” (1985) — whose teens spy on a neighbor they believe to be something other than human — “The Wretched” adds a twist or two of its own. And if the final, teasing image is completely expected, it won’t erase the fun you’ll have getting there.
The Wretched
Not rated. Running time: 1 hour 35 minutes. Rent or buy on Amazon, Google Play and other streaming platforms and pay TV operators.
Source: Movies - nytimes.com
