The Wretched (film)


The Wretched is a 2019 American supernatural horror film written and directed by the Pierce Brothers. It stars John-Paul Howard, Piper Curda, Zarah Mahler, Kevin Bigley, Gabriela Quezada Bloomgarden, Richard Ellis, Blane Crockarell, Jamison Jones, and Azie Tesfai. The film follows a defiant teenage boy who faces off with an evil witch, who is posing as the neighbor next door.
The Wretched had its world premiere at the Fantasia International Film Festival on July 19, 2019, and was released in drive-in theaters and through video on demand on May 1, 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic limiting the amount of films in theaters. The Wretched became the first film since Avatar to top the box office for six consecutive weekends.

Plot

In 1985, Megan arrives at the home of the Gambels to babysit their daughter. In the basement, she finds a creature feeding off the little girl. Terrified, she tries to escape, but Mr. Gambel purposely shuts the door on her. Megan is presumed killed. A strange sign is shown on the door.
In the present, Ben comes to be with his father Liam as his parents are in the middle of a divorce. Ben lands a job working at the marina, where he befriends Mallory. He also notices Liam getting close with Sara, a co-worker. In the woods, Dillon, the son of Liam's neighbor Abbie, finds a tree with the same symbol seen at the Gambel house. He hears what sounds like Abbie's voice coming from the tree, calling to him before the real Abbie appears. They bring a buck home that they hit and that night, something crawls out of the buck's corpse.
Ben befriends Dillon. That night, Abbie goes to check on Sam in his crib. In his room, she hears a crunching sound and sees blood. She is then attacked. Ben later notices Abbie going into the forest with a child. At work, he learns that Dillon never showed up for sailing lessons. When he goes to Dillon's house, Ty denies having a son. Later, Abbie whispers something demonic in Ty's ear that makes him bleed. She then takes a shower and her body starts to decay.
Ben is suspicious and reads about a witch that is known for possessing people and taking children. He goes into Abbie's cellar and finds a picture of the family, along with a picture of Mallory and her sister Lily, making him realize that the witch is after Lily next. He rushes to save Lily, but is too late, as the witch has pulled her into her tree. While Ben is with Sara, he notices flowers decaying, and realizes she is possessed by the witch. When she tries to attack, he slashes her arm, but the witch makes it look like he attacked Sara for no reason. He is taken into custody. The officer driving Ben to the station instead attempts to drown him at the beach until a dog attacks. The officer shoots the dog and then himself as he realizes that something is controlling him to kill Ben. Meanwhile, Liam finds the dead bodies of Ty and Abbie at their house. Sara sneaks up to stab Liam but Ben arrives and shoots her. The witch crawls out of Sara's corpse and goes after Ben, but he takes Liam to safety as their house burns down. Ben suddenly remembers that he has a little brother, Nathan. All this time the witch had made him forget about Nathan.
Ben and Mallory go to the tree to rescue their siblings. As Ben rescues Nathan and Lily, Liam arrives and rams his car into the witch. Later, Ben and Mallory kiss goodbye, and she puts a flower in his hair before leaving to give sailing lessons. Ben notices the flower is fake, revealing that the witch is alive and is now possessing Mallory, who is alone with three children.

Cast

Filming took place around Omena and Northport, Michigan, near the Pierces' hometown.
Composer, and childhood friend of the Pierce Brothers, Devin Burrows composed the film's score. According to Burrows in a 2020 Nightmare on Film Street interview, he visited the film's shooting locations prior to principal photography beginning to work the natural influence and inspiration into the film music. The trio also worked together on the Pierce Brothers 2011 film Deadheads.

Release

The film premiered at Fantasia International Film Festival on July 19, 2019. It also screened at the Traverse City Film Festival. It was released in selected theaters in the United States on May 1, 2020, as well as Premium VOD. The film was released in cinemas in the Netherlands on June 25, 2020.

Reception

Box office

Due to limited theater exposure and few films playing due to the COVID-19 pandemic, The Wretched was #1 at the box office in its opening weekend, earning $65,908 from 12 theaters. Playing in 19 theaters, the film finished first again the following weekend with $69,608, for a 10-day running total of $165,294. The film remained in first the following weekends, making $91,975 from 21 drive-in theaters in its third, $215,836 from 59 in its fourth, and $181,000 from 75 in its fifth. It became the first film since Black Panther in February 2018 to top the box office five weekends in a row, although it was noted that Trolls World Tour would have likely come in first over the course of its release had its weekly grosses been made public.
The film then made $207,212 from 99 theaters and crossed the $1 million mark, topping newcomer Becky by $1,415 to remain in first for the sixth straight weekend. It was finally dethroned in its seventh weekend, finishing third behind Becky and Infamous with $148,583.

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds an approval rating of 75% based on 102 reviews, with an average rating of 6.27/10. The website's critics consensus reads: "The Wretched stirs up a savory blend of witch-in-the-woods horror ingredients that should leave genre fans hungry for a second helping from writer-directors Brett and Drew T. Pierce." On Metacritic, the film has a weighted average score of 61 out of 100, based on 15 critics, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
Jeannette Catsoulis of The New York Times gave the film a generally positive review, writing: "Blessed with shivery setups and freaky effects—here, skin-crawling is literal—The Wretched transforms common familial anxieties into flesh, albeit crepey and creeping." Geoff Berkshire of the Los Angeles Times wrote: "What the Pierce brothers lack in flavorful storytelling or compelling characters, they almost entirely make up for in good old-fashioned atmosphere and suspense. The Wretched rarely surprises, but it's well-crafted enough to get under your skin anyway, with an able assist from the creepy camerawork of cinematographer Conor Murphy and unsettling score by Devin Burrows."
Writing for RogerEbert.com, Simon Abrams gave the film 1.5 out of 4 stars, saying that "unlike Stranger Things, The Wretched is a little too cute about teen angst, and not light enough on its feet to make you want to root for its ostensibly typical adolescent.".