Toc toc toc

Imagine being Eight years old, and hearing voices in your bedroom, that's the scenario for poor Peter, who can't even rely on his parents.

Once again, I was hooked by a trailer, but unlike the last few horrors I've seen, which have all been disappointing, Cobweb was actually a pretty good movie.

Let's be honest, it's far from perfect, but then again, what is, at times it was a little too dark, and I wish they hadn't shown the figure, I would have preferred the ambiguity. I didn't care for some of The CGI, had they toned her down a bit, I think it would have worked better.

The ending felt a bit rushed, I wonder if they'd cut a number of scenes out, that said it was nice to watch a movie that didn't run for three hours.

The plus points, quite a few of them, first of all, pound for pound, this had more jump scares than I've seen for quite a while, and when they came, they were really good, the moment with the mother coming down the corridor was excellent, plenty of tension and unease.

I thought the acting was terrific, Lizzy Caplan, Antony Starr and young Woody Norman were all on point.

Better than expected, I enjoyed it.

7/10.

Director Samuel Bodin's first theatrical feature is atmospheric, and departs from stock slasher conventions just enough to make for an entertaining if unexceptional scarefest. Cobweb feels like an incomplete collection of horror ideas that aren't explored to their full potential, but it fairly succeeds thanks to the second act where the real terror awakens.

There's no sugarcoating Cobweb's flaws, from pacing to convoluted editing, and at times with crappy CGI that actually scares more than the movie. It might not be a particularly memorable horror film, but it's still decent enough with it's jump scares that engages us. The climax/conclusion was lousy though, which somehow ended in a jiffy rather than taking it slow.

My Rating:6/10.

"Cobweb" is a slow-burning thriller that builds tension from ordinary events to eerie happenings, culminating in a series of abnormal occurrences. The director skillfully develops the characters' backstories, and the leading actors deliver convincing performances, particularly in their portrayal of semi-psychopathic characters. The story is engaging and keeps the audience captivated without resorting to cheap tricks.

However, the film's ending falls short of expectations. In an attempt to create a frightening atmosphere, the final scene is shot in near darkness, making it difficult to discern what is happening on screen. Rather than being scary, this lack of visibility is frustrating and detracts from the overall impact of the film, which is a shame because otherwise this could have been an outstanding film.

Overall, "Cobweb" earns an exact score of 58 / 100 from me. Fans of the genre may find it worth watching, but others may want to give it a miss.

If there's something Samuel Bodin knows how to do, it's create tension and suspense, waiting for the right moment to terrify us. After "Marianne," he does it again in "Cobweb," which uses a very well-crafted script throughout two acts to build-up a story that may seem similar to many others but has its originality later revealed. There are chilling moments, and it takes unexpected paths, always supported by excellent performances and a highly imaginative camera work.

It's a shame that some small details don't live up to the rest of the work - yes, the typical "why did you go there and didn't call the police" kind of thing - including a hurried conclusion that should have provided more answers and a more convincing resolution.

Not a huge fan of this movie because of the massive pivot half way thru.

I won't spoil it but there's a point where they build up to something which I was looking forward to, and then the movie just devolves down the proverbial toilet bowl.

Some of the audience will enjoy the devolution after build up and then full toilet bowl down to bad writing/cgi and utter nonsense, but I personally wasn't a fan.

This is becoming a bit of a trend, where movies will drive you somewhere, but then make a hard turn into chaos, where the writing style and the entire build up was something of a ruse. This movie for me it didn't work, the first half was well acted and very creepy however. 5.5/10.