by something gross inside. But at least she
still showers regularly and properly stores her
garbage. It turns out witches have some good
hygiene while they wait to kill us.
Our hero stakes out this odd family from his
roof with binoculars, like an homage to “Rear
Window.” His cool friend — an excellent Piper
Curda — tells him “You’re acting Nutter Butters.”
The malevolent witch seems to move from
female host to female host, brainwashing
men along the way, feasting on children and
scratching the eyes out of family photographs.
Hey, happy Mom’s Day!
The editing is more than a little rough and the
plot gets a little stretched, but just as things
start to get seriously hairy, the Pierce brothers
suddenly have something really interesting
to say about erasure and how families can
abandon their histories. It’s a development
worthy of M. Night Shyamalan, but they’ve run
out of runway and there’s only enough room left
to battle the witch.
The filmmaking brothers have some nice
touches — frightening baby video cams and
quickly dying flowers — that indicate a bright
future ahead. And they prove they are capable
of more than just a sizzle reel of other film
highlights. Their future is not at all wretched.
“The Wretched,” an IFC Midnight release, is not
rated but has creepy horror, disturbing images,
cannibalism, violence, including impalings.
Running time: 95 minutes. Two stars out of four.
Online: https://www.wretchedmovie.com
The Wretched - “Deer” Clip | IFC Midnight