Cobweb, A Review

Sooner or later, family secrets creep out.

SPOILER WARING. I DO DISCUSS SOME OF THE MAJOR PLOT POINTS BELOW SO READ AT YOUR OWN RISK.

Cobweb follows Peter (Woody Norman), a young boy who struggles with bullying at school and shyness at home, frequently experiencing vivid nightmares. His parents Carol (Lizzy Caplan, Truth be Told) and Mark (Anthony Starr) blame it all on an over-active imagination and remain emotionally distant from him, leading to him finding comfort in new teacher Miss Divine (Cleopatra Coleman) instead. As Peter’s nightmares then continue he also begins hearing noises seemingly from inside his walls and the voice of a little girl. The voice claims she’s Peter’s sister and Carol and Mark have hidden her away to punish her. His parents again brush this all off and then take Peter out of school after a bullying incident increases to violence, cutting him off from Miss Devine. Now stuck at home all day the voice in the walls begins pleading for escape and Peter begins to worry whether he can really trust his own Mother and Father. With time running out will Peter let his ‘sister’ escape or will Carol and Mark get to him first and cut off his dreams before they can properly take root?

Cobweb had such a brilliantly moody and creepy vibe and I really loved the overall tone of the film. From the creepy house, Halloween setting and ambiguous motives from the parents this was definitely a film that had me on edge. I think something living in the walls is such a universal fear and a real subgenre favourite of mine, the idea of this secret sibling really drove the story forward and I loved the genuine not knowing of who was telling the truth and who was lying, this one definitely excelled on the creep factor.

Lizzy Caplan and Anthony Starr did such a brilliant job here at being massively creepy, so much so that you really didn’t know whose side the parents were on in all of this. The pair really played up that protective nature over Peter whilst also adding just enough of an edge that is bordered on concerning. On paper the pair were acting like the ‘perfect’ parents but there was still something lowkey terrifying about them and I really loved it, Caplan especially was all kinds of menacing. The way they acted definitely played up that uncertainty, especially towards Miss Divine, and whilst I wish we’d gotten some more from them post-reveal I still loved their overall performances.

The twist at the end revealing that Sarah had been evil all along and simply manipulating Peter was well done and whilst not an entirely new concept for the horror genre I did enjoy the final few scenes of fully evil Sarah. Like I said above Caplan and Starr’s performances definitely played up that uncertainty and you did genuinely question whether they had really killed the neighbour girl. I loved the design of Sarah and her almost spider like appearance (hence the Cobweb title) and I did really enjoy the movement and vocal talent combination, she definitely matched the film’s creepy tone.

Overall Cobweb was an enjoyable film with a nice spooky vibe and some great performances all around. The story as a whole with the creepy parents and something hiding in the walls was well done and whilst the plot twist wasn’t exactly ground-breaking I still had a lot of fun here and loved the creepier undertones, a real underrated gem in the horror genre as of late.