Directed By Samuel Bodin

Starring – Lizzy Caplan, Anthony Starr, Woody Norman

The Plot – Horror strikes when an eight-year-old boy named Peter (Norman) tries to investigate the mysterious knocking noises that are coming from inside the walls of his house and a dark secret that his sinister parents (Caplan and Starr) kept hidden from him.

Rated MPAA for horror violence and adult language

(9) Cobweb Trailer #1 (2023) – YouTube

POSITIVES

Similar to last year’s “Barbarian” shocking its audience with subversive scares and grotesque imagery of unexpected explorations, so too does “Cobweb”, a stock-soaring debut from Samuel Bodin and screenwriter Chris Thomas Devlin, who charter a grim essence of fairy tale atmosphere to this family time psychological stinger. From a storytelling perspective, the film not only managed to subvert my expectations from an introductory first act that feels intentionally derivative of other films, but also in the frights department itself, which thankfully doesn’t rely on cheap jump scares or telegraphed pay-offs to connect to its audience, and instead prolongs the peril and evolves the tension naturally in ways that lend themselves to the scintillating slow-burner that makes up the entirety of this 83 minute engagement. Devlin reshuffles the stakes and circumstances every thirty minutes or so, allowing the story to maintain its appeal while continuously ushering in something bigger and deadlier to Peter’s conflict, which only further enhances the boy’s empathetic value, especially in being so isolated from anyone that could help him. Bodin’s direction, particularly his experimentation with shadow influences in everything from moonlight beaming into windows, to character silhouettes, emits an aforementioned grim fairytale familiarity to sequences that are otherwise outlined with terrifying implications, and when combined with the seasonal aspects of the Halloween colors and decorations, proves that Bodin isn’t above tapping into the genre’s most creative impulses. Following these technical components, praise is also deserved not only in the form of the film’s unique sound designs, but also its musical score from Drum & Lace, which so effortlessly added to the eeriness in dread that enveloped Peter’s dire situation. Similar to how the visuals construct a preconceived notion with the audience that prepares them for what to expect, so too does the complexities of the music, which intentionally paint a false sense of security within the ever-changing dynamics, and when coupled with noises from inside of Peter’s walls vividly articulating what only our imaginations can reasonably interpret, allows the film to maintain that ambiguous quality that continuously kept me on the edge of my seat. Finally, the majority of the performances were impactful, especially in their opportunity in conveying many against type approaches to such complex characteristics. This can’t be felt any louder than the duo of Caplan and Starr, with the former’s artificiality for humanity imbedding something unnaturally eerie in the way she delivers her lines, and the latter’s persistent intensity in everything from looks to language resulting in a magnetizing allure that rarely requires him to yell to get his point across. Woody Norman is also a breath of fresh air in his follow-up to 2021’s “C’mon C’mon”, approaching Peter with a defined vulnerability amid psychological duress that has us experiencing the unknown through his timidly tender vantage point, and because of such only further utilizes much of the ambiguous allure of the plot that could literally take us anywhere.

NEGATIVES

While most of the production behind the scenes of “Cobweb” remains pertinent towards the integrity of its experience, one such undercooked ingredient of computer generated artificiality simply couldn’t measure up, and because of such soils some of the aforementioned ambiguous allure that drives audience interests. Without giving anything away, there’s a creative choice towards the end of the film that requires someone to remove themselves from the shadows that had been surrounding them throughout the film, and in doing such illustrates a cartoonishly bad facial registry that only inspired feelings of laughter towards its integrity. For my money, the film should’ve remained faithful towards its subtle approach, as revealing too much about this aspect watered down some of the mystique of its allure, getting the climax of the movie off to a humiliating start. From there, the ending itself falls a bit abrupt and unsatisfying, especially with a resolution that feels like the movie simply ran out of time. I was fully on board with the intention of the closing moments and what they represent to Peter’s plight, but it’s definitely a factor that will ultimately and unfortunately take away from audience experiences, with more emphasis than ever on the rushed storytelling that otherwise undercut the motivations and believability of a teacher’s actions in the film. Finally, the script is able to find some clever ways to deviate from a majority of genre tropes that would otherwise dwindle its creative factor, but in the case of one involving bullies lifted directly from a Stephen King movie, leaves more to be desired in the execution of its excess. If the bully is limited to a single scene during his introduction to the film, then it works in conveying Peter’s expansive loneliness outside of the film’s primary setting, but instead it brings him back in an unnecessary scene towards the film’s third act, which feels like the only scene in the film that I was able to capably predict. The bully’s arc is every bit as underwritten as the teacher’s, and in mirroring her, directly undercuts the motivations of his actions, which persist in a film that he has absolutely no right to be a part of.

OVERALL
“Cobweb” weaves an unsettling string of scintillating style and creative ambiguity among its family horror narrative that continuously keeps its audience guessing. With intensely gripping performances and a shape-shifting screenplay at the forefront of its appeal, the film is able to allude some its momentary hinderances during third act displacement, in turn cementing horror’s best kept secret of the year that prides itself on individuality.

My Grade: 7/10 or B