Movie Review: COBWEB

By ABBIE BERNSTEIN / Staff Writer

Posted: July 21st, 2023 / 01:29 AM

Rating: R
Stars: Lizzy Caplan, Woody Norman, Cleopatra Coleman, Antony Starr, Luke Busey, Jay Rincón
Writer: Chris Thomas Devlin
Director: Samuel Bodin
Distributor: Lionsgate
Release Date: July 21, 2023

COBWEB is linear, and doesn’t try to play games with us. Even so, it feels like a child’s nightmare, with potential horror coming from many directions at once.

An opening title tells us that COBWEB begins one week before Halloween. Eight-year-old Peter (Woody Norman) is an unhappy little boy. He’s bullied by his peers in class and on the playground.

Peter lives in a neighborhood where the houses are old and not too close together. At home, Mom Carol (Lizzy Caplan) tends to fluctuate between overprotectiveness and hysteria. Dad Mark (Antony Starr) has a temper. Both of them tell Peter he’s just imagining things when he first hears thumping, then a voice, coming from behind his bedroom wall.

On the other hand, both Carol and Mark are all too ready to warn Peter about the dangers of the outside world. Years ago, a little girl who lived just a few houses over went trick-or-treating and was never seen again. This is their justification for keeping Peter home on Halloween.

Peter’s distress is noticed by his sympathetic teacher, Miss Devine (Cleopatra Coleman). He’s eager for her help, but Carol does not want outside assistance, and Mark has an even stronger reaction.

But then we find out that Peter has an unnerving side as well.

Director Samuel Bodin and writer Chris Thomas Devlin pull off the tricky feat of keeping us engaged and curious, even while we’re trying to figure out who and what we should fear. Is it Carol? Is it Mark? Is it both? Is it whatever is in the walls? Is it Peter himself? Is it some combination thereof? And what of the growing outside threat?

Bodin makes excellent use of ominous shadows and ambiguous shapes moving around. Peter’s home looks more than a little old-fashioned, but still plausible as somewhere that people live in the present. We also get some simple but impressively menacing imagery tied to Halloween.

Despite the slow-burn tension of things literally going bump in the night, COBWEB’s momentum grows as it pushes forward. We want to get to the bottom of the multiple mysteries, at the same time we don’t know who to root for or against.

Norman gives a strong performance as Peter, who starts out tamped down but eventually runs the gamut of emotions. Caplan is excellent as a woman who is able to put up a cheerful front with a lot behind it, and Starr can be hearty and alarming at the same time. Coleman exudes empathy as the concerned educator. Luke Busey is suitably malevolent as Peter’s sociopathic classmate.

COBWEB provides more than the expected amount of horror satisfactions. It sets up its scares and twists honestly, and doesn’t rely on the main characters doing anything counterintuitive to propel the plot. It’s a welcome blast of Halloween chill in July.

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An effectively scary film from a child’s point of view

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Article: Movie Review: COBWEB

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