A forgotten horror gem…
I often think I’m broken. I mean, physically I’ve been falling apart for years obviously, and I often wander into rooms for no reason like a forgetful old dog, so I’m pretty mentally fragile too but, no, what I actually mean is, I’m psychologically broken. I know this because despite being battle scarred and traumatised from five long years of my 12 Days of Christmas Films project, I have now begun a new, and even more time consuming enterprise. It would appear that it’s not looking great for my long-term mental health prospects.
And so, to Pyewacket…
While this week has certainly confirmed that Twitter is mainly used as an echo chamber to enable me to nod along with loads of views that I already agree with, it is also occasionally useful as a hub to discover new stuff. Matthew Holness (of Garth Marenghi fame) endorsed Pyewacket and that was enough for me to jump in, and I’m glad I did.
Leah Reyes (Nicole Munoz) is a typical angsty teenager. Terrible music taste. Shitty fashion choices. Caster of spells. All the usual stuff. One particular spell has catastrophic consequences for both Leah and those around her. You don’t just summon an ancient demon called Pyewacket and get away with it. Munoz, who I knew absolutely nothing about going into this movie, is excellent throughout. A real star turn with a character that could easily have come across as stereotypical and anodyne. The rest of the young cast are also impressive and Munoz shares a suitably frayed chemistry with her onscreen mother Laurie Holden.
Canadian director Adam MacDonald also brings a lot to the table and it is the slow build and subtle jump cuts that allow the tension to fester and accumulate, eventually leading to a horrifying and panic inducing conclusion. While this slow build is a common technique in the world of horror, it is a difficult thing to pull off successfully. It’s so easy for the incremental building of tension to eventually turn in to boredom. MacDonald and his cast work hard throughout to ensure that Pyewacket remains a troubling and unique fable based around that old, inescapable idiom that we should be careful what we wish for.
As the first of 31 horror films I will watch in this godforsaken month, Pyewacket was a low-key success. Something to be enjoyed by horror aficionados and laypersons alike.