Hey there moviegoer! Are you looking for a quick, surefire scream-fest to round off or perhaps even ELONGATE your spooky season?! Some straightforward scares that waste no time getting to the deadly point? Then look no further than 2023's Cobweb out on Hulu, Prime, and YouTube today! You got kills! You got screams! You got mysterious knocks coming from inside a creepy house that prompt an awkward, lonely child to distrust some potentially murderous parents! But are they?! Maybe! You don't know! But you could find out! And by the time you do ... Well the movie just might be over before you know it. Dare I say, perhaps a tad too early.
(WARNING: Mild spoilers for the end, but nothing specific beyond its length ... Oh! And also Diehard.)
So to back up just a smidge, Cobweb (Directed by Samuel Boding and written by Chris Delvin) is a horror-thriller following a small, 8 yr-old boy named Peter as he investigates the mysterious knocks coming from inside his bedroom wall. In time, his sleuthing leads to some alarming revelations suggesting his parents may be hiding a terrible secret? But are they? Or is it just mere fear whispering lies in his ears? Of course answers are revealed as the movie goes on and I'm happy to say that, overall, it's a pleasantly spooky experience, albeit far from a perfect one.
To quickly speak to minor gripes, Cobweb, for most fans of the horror genre, will feel a tad predictable and may lack originality in terms of its execution. However, that doesn't mean it isn't executed well. Far from it, actually, as Cobweb showcases great pacing (mostly), deliciously eerie vibes, a fair amount of unsettling intrigue, masterful suspense, and great sparing uses of gore. So even if this isn't your first go around with Spook-tastic Cinema, I promise any horror lover will find much to enjoy along this brief, but aesthetically well crafted ride. All that being said, I can't stress enough how the film's briefness is by far its biggest and most confounding drawback.
So I would hazard a guess that the ending of this film will leave many feeling unsatisfied and/or wanting more in the worst way possible. But not because it has a bad resolution, but rather that it doesn't seem to have any resolution at all. To elaborate, the third act of Cobweb has an enthralling final showdown that does not let up until its literal final moment. The problem is that that final moment arrives just when there's this big dramatic shift in the confrontation that feels like the punch into the climax rather than the entire climax itself. Essentially, the movie abruptly stops halfway through that moment, before quickly wrapping up with what I can only describe as a Saturday morning cartoon "i'll-get-you-next-time" and then it's all over. It's like if Diehard ended with John McClane shooting Hanz Gruberg out the window of Nakatomi, but instead of him saving his wife and dropping Hanz to his death, Hanz is left hanging out the window, while John and Molly just stand around without ever going downstairs to wrap up the movie.
It's a very baffling decision; one that I surmise was made due to budget constraints, a lack of forethought as to how to sufficiently wrap up the story, a desire to somehow force a sequel-bait ending, or some combination of the three. Either way, with no real resolution, it creates a few small plot holes within the narrative and of course ends the whole thing on a "Wait? Is it over?" sort of note. But even with that, there is still a lot to love. I'd say give it a watch, especially if you're looking for something new and fun to sprinkle into your spooky season. Just don't expect it to knock your thigh-high witch's socks off by the end.
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