Something Wicked

I am surprised that some of the reviews are so damning of this film.

OK - its not a classic, but it isn't absolutely dire either.

The storyline is excellent and you never know what the whole story is until right at the end - which was something I didn't really expect until the last 5 or 10 minutes.

It is worth watching provided you don't have any expectations.

The only thing I didn't like about the film was the casting of John Robinson in the key male role. He is too effeminate to be credible. The role needed someone who could play the age but also have something interesting about them. He was just bland from start to finish.

This being Brittany's last movie I had to see it and finally did on Soap2day.cx. This felt a lot like a Lifetime movie the way their story goes. The end was odd and they made you think it was based on a true story. I am standoffish about this movie because it was enjoyable but some parts made you roll your eyes. It was good to past time or a one time viewing, but not more then that. I loved Brittany Murphy's acting abilities and she is sorely missed that is for sure!

I read another review that said this was not one of Murphy's best movies and what ppl forget is she just loved to act! Weather it be in a box office hit or just a low budget. If any true fan has seen all her work like I have you would know that not all her movies were "Note Worthy". IF I could act, not all mine would sail either, I am sure of that. This movies was better than Abandoned or in my opinion Across The Hall.

I have a soft spot for B-horror films— it's not just that I am usually very entertained by them, but I really just find them charming. Maybe I have an underdog complex. Regardless, I'm not even sure why I am dispensing this information, because I don't know if I can classify "Something Wicked" as a B-movie completely, given the relatively high production values and moderately well-known cast (including the late and great Brittany Murphy). Even if "Something Wicked" isn't a B-movie entirely, it feels like one, and works within this framework. The plot follows a young woman, Christine (Shantel VanSanten) who loses her parents in an accident; she survives, however, as does her boyfriend, James (John Robinson). Christine moves in with her older brother, Bill (James Patrick Stuart), a local cop, and his wife, psychologist Susan (Brittany Murphy), and attends the local university. She and James begin to plan a future together beginning with a marriage, but Christine begins experiencing personal attacks and believes herself to be haunted by demons of the past and stalked by a real-life attacker. Where does Christine's truth lie?

It is without question that the main reason "Something Wicked" is even seeing the light of day at Regal Cinemas right now is because it marks Brittany Murphy's final performance before her untimely death. Had Murphy not passed away, the film would likely have been relegated to the land of straight-to-DVD Redbox specials, but it is currently having an extremely limited theatrical run in the Pacific Northwest, and is one of the few indie films to surface in quite some time from my beautiful home state of Oregon (it was filmed in Eugene, a college town about three hours south of Portland, where I am from). And you know what? I'm glad the film is playing in a mainstream cinema, no matter how limited. It's just a shame that it took Murphy's death to get it there.

The reasons behind the film's delay are ambiguous (it was filmed in 2009), but regardless, what we have here is a no-holds-barred indie horror thriller that is not quite serious enough to be taken at face value, but classy enough that it cannot be dismissed by genre fans. The script plays with genre setups and conventions galore, but they don't appear as clichés because the film refuses to let them be— it walks the line between a made-for-TV movie and a first-rate thriller, which is bizarre, but also extremely absorbing for people who are into this kind of thing. As someone who watches these films all the time, I should have seen the plot twists coming, but I didn't— the script quickly throws the audience into a disorienting snake pit of red-herrings and spends the rest of its time clawing its way out to the conclusion. The performances in the film are also worth taking note of; Shantel VanSanten leads the film and is vulnerable and believable, paired with John Robinson ("Elephant") as her husband-to-be. James Patrick Stewart plays her (perhaps too) protective cop brother quite believably, and Julian Morris ("Cry_Wolf") appears as the ominous and sexy stalker boy on campus— and then of course there is Murphy, who is completely alive and engaging in all of her scenes, her range oscillating between upper-class psychologist and prescription-addled madwoman.

All this said, I don't know who the audience for "Something Wicked" is, as it's not flashy enough to attract a mainstream horror audience, and it is not something that has enough draw for the general public either. It perhaps has a niche market of diehards and B-horror fans like myself, as well as those who are ardent fans of Murphy's and want to see her last hurrah. At its heart, "Something Wicked" is nothing more than a self-aware indie horror flick with a series of twists and turns that aren't particularly profound, but I'll be damned if they don't make for an enjoyable and entertaining ninety minutes. If Murphy's untimely death gave us anything, it was the chance for an earnest and underrepresented indie horror film such as this to see the light of day— no matter how small or large that may be. 7/10.

I must sadly warn my fellow horror/thriller fans to keep away from this release. If you are looking for a good and scary time filled with suspense you will be disappointed. It is actually impossible to even accept the basic setup for several reasons. While the cinematography is arguably one notch over a passable High School project, everything else pulls the movie down into an amateur ditch – it sinks even lower than many of the other unfortunate horror-releases of newer time. The direction is awful and the acting is really quite terrible. The script problems are obvious and nothing has been done to attempt to fix cringe-worthy plot holes. It really makes no sense. The movie is also full of hand-me-down elements from many previous horror movies, and it does a remarkably terrible job copying them. Something Wicked boils down to an unengaging experience due to the general poor quality, and it is not worth neither time nor money. It is particularly sad to see the last rolls of film of the late Brittany Murphy, which, without a doubt, was the only reason that this was ever released. Murphy looks tired, strung out – and it can be argued that it is in poor taste to publish this unfinished and confused nonsense in her wake. I think this movie is cursed. If this is the case it may be a good horror movie after all. But it is still a three... Stay clear of this release, friends!

This is a bad movie. It took years to get released and there is a reason for this. It is truly bad. The acting is terrible. Everyone in it is truly bad. It is filmed like a cable movie. Both the direction and cinematography are amateurish. Even the editing looks like something out of "The Room," which is the movie this most reminded me of. But where "The Room" became a midnight movie laugh fest, one which its creator now insists was intended to be a dark comedy, "Something Wicked" takes itself very seriously. Which makes it all the worse when you are laughing out loud at how bad it is. The only thing redeeming is the ending - and it is not worth the trouble of sitting through this piece of junk.