When promiscuous teens trek through a horror movie set’s forest in a drug addled stupor, there’s a good chance they’ll die at the end of a mad man’s machete or wind up scythed into flesh chunks for a local witch’s broth. In writer / director Brian Cunningham’s fourth feature, Wretch, a teen trio sneak into the woods to smoke lobe-frazzling narcotics then find themselves plagued by flashbacks of a beast, teased in nightmares and subliminal flashbacks. Later, the group piece together memories of the forest freakout while processing deeper revelations that could threaten their friendship.
Starting as an interpreted found-footage thriller with grating teen characters, the type of which are typically slaughtered within seconds of a slasher film, Wretch soon straightens into a sedate, bog standard offering, with an undercooked concept at its core. Caleb (Spencer Korcz) and Abby (Megan Massie) are a licentious teen couple who are close friends with Riker (Riker Hill), a depressed, cantankerous dope hound cloaking unrequited love and disdain for his compadres. Character conflicts and defects deepen to make the three leads more interesting than most horror teen cutouts. Decent lead performances are a cut above most B-movie standards and lend weight to the strained relationship drama which is Wretch‘s key strength.
Sadly though, Wretch lacks the plot thrust to make it gripping and dynamic. The script (based on a story by Janel Nash) languishes arid and solemn in dejected emo mode with intriguing leads but little drive. Wretch looks good for the better part / budget, thanks to the director’s sullen eye, especially while sporadically veering into intriguing abstract nightmare scenes, yet the story struggles to retain attention due to a lack of suspense and the need for too many plot turns to stretch it into a feature duration.
Cunningham dissonantly mashes mysticism, monsters and pharmaceutical psychosis like the Blair Witch crack whacked and conked on Melatonin. He captures the cacophony in an erratic handheld fashion, but the story is hampered by this drudging solemnity. Sharper frights and plot refining could have bettered Wretch immensely. Despite the slight script and budget, seeing the lead characters ripen then crack offers much-needed substance, but not enough to substitute for the stagnant storyline. Wretch is never frightening, and frequently feels like a rough draft of something much greater.
Cunningham fails to harness the frights required to placate or remotely amuse horror fans or rattle mainstream audiences, but proves himself a good actor’s director with a proclivity for extracting character facets alongside half decent performances to inform the drama and engage viewers at a deeper level than most direct-to-video horrors. Sadly though, those blunt, sporadic scares, tepid dread and a flatlining narrative render Wretch predominantly forgettable and ineffective.
WRETCH / CERT: UNRATED / DIRECTOR & SCREENPLAY: BRIAN CUNNINGHAM / STARRING: JOEY ARENA, ANDREW BURCH, MORGAN DAYTON / RELEASE DATE: 29TH JANUARY
