The Wretched - Average horror movie with a disturbing witch

Horror is probably the most difficult genre and finding a good movie/series can be quite challenging. This is why I tend to take some risks and decide to watch horror productions that could have potential. Always with the hope of discovering a good horror flick.

Some months ago I had a nice surprise when watching the Argentinian movie called Aterrados (Terrified), it is a little known movie but very scary and certainly well-done. Yesterday, I decided to watch The Wretched, an American movie with no popular actors but with a story that might have been interesting.

The paranormal aspect of the story is that a teenager begins to suspect something is wrong with his female neighbor when one day he finds her child hidden in his house and looking very scared. Shortly after, this teenager will realize how sinister everything is going to get. The evil force that is present and slowly causing havoc is actually a witch, which similarly to the one from the Hansel and Gretel classic story, enjoys kidnapping children.

There is more to this witch but I don't want to give everything away in case a reader decides to watch the film. The CGI was top-notch, this is actually the best technical aspect of the movie. Every time we saw the witch she looked well-designed and with some original touches.

This horror movie makes the typical mistake of filling up time with teenage nonsense. Every time I see a horror movie doing this I feel they are cheapening their own production in a very annoying way. Good horror stories shouldn't get cheapen with silly teenager stuff.

I am sure that if this same story was produced with a higher budget it could have been an amazing horror film. There is an interesting part where we learn how this witch operates that

is the same as the one in play in the movie called The Forgotten from 2004 with Julianne Moore. I remember this movie because I was quite young when I first watched it and its twists surprised me a lot. That movie isn't about a witch though, but about a different apparently supernatural force.

Back to The Wretched, as expected, the teenager discovers everything, and the unequal "fight" will begin. There is also more than 1 twist in the movie which was nice. Ultimately, I would only recommend this to people that are really looking for some horror and have already watched the best ones out there. I also think it is possible to find better horror stories on Youtube. Some channels that are always posting original horror short films are Alter and Omeleto Horror.

The best

• Some original elements but a regular final product.
• Very good CGI with the witch.

The worst

• There were some boring and useless parts with teen drama or silly fights.
• The performances were forgettable.

More information: https://www.themoviedb.org/movie/605804-the-wretched
Review: AA
In numbers: 6/10