Cobweb Review

Cobweb is based on a screenplay shortlisted on the 2018 Black List. This film sees a young boy face many forms of horror.

Peter (Woody Norman) is an eight-year-old boy who lives in an old house with his overbearing parents. He is bullied at school, and he hears unusual and unsettling sounds at home. Peter learns about a girl who disappeared whilst trick-or-treating before he was born and he starts to communicate with a voice from the walls of his room.

2023 has seen a great variety of horror films. There have been thematic, politically driven films (Infinity Pool), franchise revivals (Evil Dead Rise), and generic, unoriginal offerings (The Pope’s Exorcist). If this year’s horror films are compared to the Premier League, Cobweb would be a firm, mid-table team.

Cobweb was similar to The Boogeyman, released earlier this year. Both were decent, functional horror films that focused on a troubled family unit. The Boogeyman was based on a Stephen King story and Cobweb did share some traits with King’s work. Bullying and dysfunctional families are popular features in King’s stories and Cobweb also had those features. Peter’s bully, Brian (Luke Busey) was particularly sadistic, just like bullies in King’s stories.

Cobweb borrowed from other horror films. The voice from Peter’s walls was both a confidante and a malicious force. The voice was the only person Peter could talk to and she told Peter the truth about her parents. She also advised Peter to take action against his bully. This relationship was similar to Oskar and Eli in Let the Right One In since Oskar was a bullied outsider and Eli gave him the encouragement to take action. Cleopatra Coleman’s role Miss Devine was like Keri Russell’s in Antlers because they were both teachers who became concerned for one of their students and attempted to find out what was happening to them. The difference between Cobweb and Antlers was their focus because Cobweb told its story from the child’s point-of-view, whilst Antlers was more about its adult character.

What made Cobweb stand out was its atmosphere. There was constant eeriness throughout the film. It was unsettling because it was told from a child’s perspective who was already living a miserable life and he was discovering dark stuff that no child should find out about. Peter was constantly being watched and his parents had an unsettling quality to them. Lizzy Caplan was deranged because she was trying to act like a good mother but going about in the worst way possible. Antony Starr’s character had a creepy presence when interacting with his son – hardly surprising considering Starr plays Homelander in The Boys.

The visuals and music also added the creep factor. Peter’s house was old and dark and in a quiet part of town. It amplified things going bump in the night since they could come from anywhere. Peter’s mum looked like she came from another time. She was a woman in her 30s but dressed like she was older and went around with a set of keys like she was a prison guard.  The director, Samuel Bodin, and his cinematographer Philip Lozano, added to the eerie feeling due to their long takes and camera movements, especially when the camera twisted and pivoted. It was unnatural. The group Drum & Lace provided the music for the film and they provided a soft, twinkly sound which gave the film an extra sense of creepiness, especially when the little girl started singing.

Cobweb got the basics for a horror film which made up for the lack of originality and fresh ideas.