With the television series "Marianne," in which the protagonists had a fairy tale nightmare that came true in real life, director SamuelBodin demonstrated his ability to create spine-tingling frights. Samuel goes even further into the world of fairy tales with his sequel, Cobweb, a gateway horror film that reads like a bedtime story. Cobweb, on the other hand, weaves a tangled web in the fabric of reality.
Woody Norman's character, Peter, an eight-year-old boy, experiences night terrors that are driving his parents, Carol (Lizzy Ca plan) and Mark (Antony Starr), insane. Peter's claim that something has been tapping continuously inside his bedroom walls all night is attributed to his vivid imagination. As the noises intensify, Mom and Dad's odd responses to Peter's assertions raise suspicion. Peter's school life, where he is bullied by his classmates, does not help the growing mistrust. Miss Devine, Peter's new substitute teacher (Cleopatra Coleman), notices and starts to wonder whether something is wrong at home. It soon becomes apparent that Peter's house is hiding a sinister secret that will put them all in danger.
Samuel, working from a scenario by Chris Thomas Devlin, uses editing that mimics the rhyme pattern of nursery rhymes to distance Peter's story from reality. It can be difficult to get a foothold in this little universe, despite how effective this stylistic choice might be at enveloping viewers in a fairy tale realm. The rhythmic editing warps reality to the point that it exposes obvious cracks. There is no sense of time or place being ordered, as scenes of Miss Devine fretting over Peter from her classroom while the sun beams through the blinds alternate with flashes of Peter being locked up in a dark cellar for bedtime. In another, Peter mysteriously has a bloody chin, and the following scene shows a bully shoving Peter to the ground.
Expect less intense terror than in Samuel's prior film because this is more of a gateway horror film. Even though Cobweb includes a few nightmare scenes to scare Peter, the horror is solidly psychological until the very end. The ambiguity of Carol and Mark is used by Devlin's screenplay to sow paranoia, and Ca plan and Starr's performances support this strategy. The two quickly switch between being stern but devoted parents and threatening prisoners. Peter uses it as a frequently thrilling diversion, but astute viewers will be able to predict the course of this story long before the solutions are revealed. Norman portrays Peter with the exact blend of appealing innocence and sweetness that inspires support.
Cobweb is so straightforward that everything is exposed. Style decisions are more obvious because of the personal plot, which is primarily recounted from within Peter's gloomy home or sporadically from a classroom. Cobweb is heavily influenced by John Carpenter's Halloween, right down to the name of the town and a replica of a bullying scene with a pumpkin. However, Cobweb couldn't be more dissimilar in style or subgenre, and Samuel never succeeds in convincingly establishing the link. This universe and its straightforward storytelling lack specificity.
Horror is popular at the box office, as evidenced by the new wave of broadly appealing, commercially successful horror. Cobweb maintains that trend with well-known frights created for general audiences. Samuel provides a straightforward tale that is made convoluted by confusing editing and ambiguous guidelines. With a spirited climax not afraid to shed some blood, the devoted ensemble, suitably eerie production design, and Grimm fairy tale overtones do set it apart. Many people may be satisfied with that, but seasoned horror fans may be baffled by this confusing gateway horror entry, stuck in a tangled web of odd storytelling decisions.
You must be logged in to post a comment.