Cobweb’ is a horror thriller that follows Peter as he starts hearing a tapping through his bedroom wall, coming from within the house. With parents Carol and Mark dismissing the claim as a result of Peter’s overactive imagination, things escalate until the boy uncovers a family secret.
With an oppressive and uninviting atmosphere, the household we’re introduced to suggests all visitors should beware, - there’s something off with the house and its inhabitants. The decrepit exterior, downcast mood and overall joylessness and repression of Carol (Lizzy Caplan) and Mark (Anthony Starr) immediately suggest a disharmony of sorts being housed within. The actors aren’t given much too work with, but in spite of that, Caplin and Starr manage to exude a controlling and fearful presence.
At the centre of the story is Peter (Woody Norman). Feeling his parents behaviour, almost mounting to disdain for the boy, he seeks council with the being in the walls. Playing on the vulnerability of the small boy, ‘Sarah’ gains the child’s trust and succeeds in having him do her bidding. Creating a mystery surrounding Sarah’s intentions, the film veer too quickly to suggest a malice behind her words, leaving little by way of guessing as to how she will influence Peter.
The film uncovers Sarah to be the locked-away older sibling of Peter, presenting her as a deformed individual, showing her to be able to scale walls and react with almost super-human speed. Unclear on the reasons behind Sarah’s deformity or explaining her abilities, the film delivers what feels like a rushed and half-cut climax, coping out and revealing Sarah to be a one note monster to be defeated.
Disappointingly, after Sarah is revealed to be a deformed, abandoned and trapped child, the film immediately proceeds to becoming a sort of creature-featuer with an inevitable chase and Knick ‘em out climax. Abandoning all attempts at building tension, the film resorts to wall-to-wall scares as the foursome of young boys chasing after Peter enter the house, with their fates sealed as they are taken out by Sarah in both quick and gruesome nature.
With a seemingly abrupt ending, the film leaves room for unanswered queries, where young Peter has apparently escaped the house and been taken in by Ms Devine (Cleopatra Coleman). How Sarah managed to escape the pit in the basement and track him down remains frustrating to not know the answer to, on top of the uncertainty on if what the closing scene depicts is real or imagined by Peter. Additionally, the film does not raise the fact that Peter did murder his parents, leaving room to question the consequences of that for the young boy.
Whether it be bad editing or poor storytelling, 'Cobweb' lacks in certainty about its own identity. What starts out and seemingly leans towards a supernatural suspense, then shifts to a psychological horror story and ends up a monster chase is too heavy a burden for this feature, failing to weave together the multitude of elements trapped under the one title.
Score: 1/4
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