Listening for cobwebs (CREDIT: Vlad Cioplea/Lionsgate)
Starring: Woody Norman, Lizzy Caplan, Cleopatra Coleman, Antony Starr
Director: Samuel Bodin
Running Time: 88 Minutes
Rating: R for Bodies Torn Apart in Nasty Ways
Release Date: July 21, 2023 (Theaters)
What’s It About?: There’s something very creepy hiding within the walls of young Peter’s (Woody Norman) house. His parents Carol (Lizzy Caplan) and Mark (Antony Starr) seem to know about it, but they’d much rather gaslight their son into believing that there’s nothing to worry about. So his home life is filled with suffocating angst, and school isn’t much better, as he’s an easy target for bullying. The only person he can confide in is his new substitute teacher Ms. Devine (Cleopatra Coleman), but Mom and Dad keep getting in the way of her efforts to reach out as well. Peter eventually decides that he’d much rather ally himself with the shadowy figure, but it quickly becomes clear that he may have seriously miscalculated the threat he’s facing.
What Made an Impression?: Time Warp: Cobweb never explicitly announces its temporal setting, which would usually mean that it’s set in the present day, but there are reasons to think otherwise. We never see anyone using any computers, or watching TV, though the clothing styles are close to modern. Peter’s house has a midcentury vibe, but in a sense that much of the domestic architecture of the late 20th and early 21st centuries is inherited from the 1950s. But we do see Ms. Devine using an iPhone at one point, which suggests that Carol and Mark are doing their damnedest to artificially keep their home stuck in the past. They clearly buried something seriously wrong long ago, and looking backward must have seemed more attractive than barreling ahead.
Mystery Monster: For most of Cobweb, the visuals and motivations remain shrouded and obscured. They’re teased out in tantalizing morsels, as Peter believes he may have discovered a long-lost sibling. When the creature fully emerges for a bloody climax, the exact nature of this being becomes clearer, though not entirely so. There are enough concrete details for viewers who demand a straightforward explanation, but also enough ambiguity to satisfy those who are more unnerved by that which can never be fully explained. It might feel a little half-baked, but it’s a unique enough vision of domestic terror to stick in your craw.
Cobweb is Recommended If You Like: Mama, Bully comeuppance, The 1950 short film A Date with Your Family
Grade: 3 out of 5 Whispers
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