Saturday, October 28, 2023

The Samhain Project : Cobweb

It seems a trend in modern horror.  Third act problems.  And Cobweb is no exception. 

Which is a shame really.  You have a terrified little boy, bullied at school during the day, and hearing noises from within his bedroom walls at night. His parents, who do address the issue as little as possible, don't appear to be completely right in the head. 

Our little hero, Peter, sets out to solve his own problems, then.  Usually in these terrorized child films, the parents are heroic, sacrificial, and take it to the edge to protect their offspring. 

Lizzy Kaplan (Castle Rock), and professional dickhead Antony Starr (The Boys' Homelander) are not effective in any form or fashion when it comes to addressing their child's issues.  As a matter of fact, that may be an understatement, and as little Peter starts to communicate with the source of the noises, you begin to wonder what Peter's options are.

He seems to have no one to turn to, besides a sympathetic schoolteacher who gets turned away at every effort to assist Peter.

The suspense builds, one of the most horrifying nightmare sequences I've ever seen sends a strike of lightning through the middle of the film, and we go barreling toward what you hope will be an explosive and satisfying conclusion.  I've said numerous times that I don't mind ambiguous conclusions, and hate confusing ones.  

This one fails to really answer any of the questions the previous 86 minutes asked.  So, just like an early Samhain entry, The Empty Man, I find myself really pulled into an eerie and powerful story just to leave scratching my head.

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