Witches brew 🧙🏻, 'Dead Teenagers' flips the slasher script 🔪, 'The Wretched' turns 5 👹, & more!

I believe I saw a witch once when I was a teenager. My mom and I were out foraging for flora samples for a 4-H project near Blue Bend, West Virginia. We spent the morning scavenging in the wilderness for maple leaves and various other plants. I couldn't have been older than 13 or 14. When we were ready to leave, my mom pulled her white Subaru out of the parking lot onto the gravel road. Down the strip, I spotted someone dressed all in black. A black robe draped over their head and covered every inch of their body. They marched toward us, as though obeying some inner voice. My blood ran cold. Something sinister seemed to seep into my skin. Chills galloped down my spine. I've never been as frightened as I was that day.

I attribute my deadly fear of witches to that moment. It's seared onto my brain and has fed my obsession ever since. With this week's newsletter, Brett let me pick the theme, and I knew immediately it had to be folk horror and witches. From Suspiria to modern classics like The Witch, the genre has no shortage of witchy goings-on that will scratch that mystical itch. Folk horror has a long-standing tradition in the horror space of crawling, writhing, and slithering under the fingernails. Mood and atmosphere are just a few key ingredients for any folk horror film, but throw in a few magical conjurings and you've got a recipe for a glorious, bone-chilling time.

From our RIYL segment to a few of this week's Retro Reviews, we dove headfirst into folk horror and other witch-bound adventures. Take a seat, have a read, and don't forget to spill out a circle of salt, just in case.

Yours Cruelly,
Bee

Issue 015’s Letterboxd list can be found here

Something Wicked This Way Comes: ‘The Wretched’ Turns 5

The Wretched is far better than it has any right to be. With its terrifying witch design, well-placed scares, and chilling mood, the 2019 film sees co-directors Drew Pierce and Brett Pierce delivering one of the best modern witch films. It’s in the way it claws at your throat, puncturing skin and drawing blood. Turning five this year, the criminally underrated entry in delightful spookiness remains a cut above the rest.

John-Paul Howard stars as Ben, a young teen who comes to stay with his father and work at the local marina. Ben, who’d broken his arm after jumping from a second-story window, befriends Mallory (Piper Curda) and strikes up an immediate infatuation. Ben and Mallory’s chemistry is palpable, infectious, and makes you desperately root for their survival. When an evil witch shows up next door and seeks to snatch up children for her consumption, it’s only a matter of time before their lives detonate and their loved ones vanish.

Being a little creeper, Ben stalks his neighbors with binoculars and peers through their bedroom window. Abbie (Zarah Mahler) and Ty (Kevin Bigley) live an idyllic life with two children, Dillon (Blane Crockarell) and an infant. Nothing appears amiss. They’re simply a couple deeply, madly in love. But when Abbie hits a deer on the way home one afternoon, she brings the carcass back and plans to skin it and cook the meat. After ripping open the flesh, rotten organs and smelly juices fall out of the deer’s soured fur. Little does she know, the witch later emerges from the tattered animal skin and crawls underneath their home.

Late one night, Abbie awakens abruptly and goes to check on her infant child. There, in its crib, she discovers a bundle of sticks where her baby should be. The witch, lurking inches away in the darkness, grabs Abbie’s ankles, pulls her beneath the crib, and slithers inside her body. Abbie is no longer Abbie, but rather a skin the witch wears to remain hidden in plain sight. Ben immediately notices a change in her demeanor and suspects foul play, particularly with what is hidden in their cellar. After Dillon misses a boating lesson at the docks, Ben shows up on their doorstep and asks about their son – but Ty has no recollection he ever had children. He grows increasingly annoyed, offended even, that Ben would play such a sick joke on him.

With Mallory’s help, Ben, who discovers a wooden shrine in his neighbor’s basement, plots to expose Abbie for what she is: a witch. But things aren’t exactly as they appear. There’s something far more sinister at play and nothing that they expect. When the twist drops – that Ben once had a little brother, forgotten to the witch’s gnarled clutches – The Wretched hits next-level creepiness. Such a turn yanks the rug from beneath your feet and leaves you absolutely gagged.

After Mallory’s sister Lily (Ja'layah Washington) is taken, it becomes clear that Ben and Mallory must head out into the woods to a creaky, rustic tree, beneath which the witch burrows and keeps her victims. Bringing salt and some gasoline with him, Ben pours out the gasoline on and around the tree and lights it on fire. The wrinkled old witch becomes consumed in flames, seemingly burned alive and left to decay back into the dirt.

The Wretched – which ends on a set-up for a sequel when Mallory gazes into the camera lens with a wry smile on her face (hinting that the witch has assumed her form) – doesn’t just adhere to strict cliches and tropes, it injects adrenaline into what we’ve come to expect from the genre. It’s a thrilling, spooky escape that makes for a real treat not only during the summer months but Halloween season.

Darkness oozes from every corner of the frame – courtesy of cinematographer Conor Murphy – and sends goosebumps popping up along the arms. It’s a spine-tingling foray into witchdom that makes for perfect viewing on a Friday night or even Sunday afternoon. If you’re still not convinced, I implore you to give the film a second chance. You might just be surprised with what it has in store.

Werewolves, Werewolves, Werewolves! There are three (3!) werewolves films coming out in October through January: Family Pack (October 23rd), Werewolves (December 6th), and Wolf Man (January 17th). Get your howl on!

Many of you are going to eat up this news: Bones and All is getting the 4K UHD treatment at Scream Factory in November. Gobble this up ASAP! Oh, and the same goes for Mike Flanagan’s Hush on November 26th!

Everyone’s favorite film trailer finally arrives in theaters this Friday, September 13th. Speak No Evil, a remake of the fantastic 2022 film, has, so far, great reviews, and we can’t wait to read yours!

The 100 Horror Movies in 92 Days Challenge is back! The event runs from August 1st through October 31st, allowing participants to watch (at least) 100 horror films during this time (and all must be a first-time watch!). Read the guidelines here.

The Dead Northern Horror Film Festival runs from September 27th-29th in the world’s most haunted city (York, England). Come for three full days of horror films, events, parties, food and drink, and more! Learn more at deadnorthern.co.uk. (Tickets)

Silver Scream Con, the horror convention that brought 5,000 blood-thirsty movie fans to Boston's North Shore in each of its first two iterations, brings the Three-quel everyone's been dying for to Worcester’s DCU Center on September 13-15, 2024. Tickets and information are available now at silverscreamcon.com.