Pyewacket
When you're dealing with demons, be careful what you wish for... In this ultra-unsettling occult nightmare, teenage Leah (Nicole Muñoz) finds solace from the recent death of her father-and from her strained relationship with her mother (Laurie Holden)--by dabbling in the dark arts. It all seems like harmless fun at first, until a blow out argument leads Leah to do the unthinkable: put a death curse on her mother. No sooner has the girl performed the ritual than she regrets it. But it may be too late, as an evil presence known as Pyewacket begins to make itself known--and threatens to destroy both mother and daughter. Backcountry director Adam MacDonald builds hair-raising tension around what's both a complex mother-daughter tale and a frightening fable about our darkest desires.
30 May 1960, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
12 July 1957, Sheffield, England, UK
25 October 1994, Canada
17 December 1969, Los Angeles, California, USA
24 January 1976, Canary Islands, Spain
24 June 1994, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada
16 June 1982, Montreal, Quebec, Canada
April 30, 2018
MacDonald clearly wanted this to be a simple, heartfelt tale focusing on the disintegration of a mother/daughter bond, without too much background noise as a distraction. And he mostly succeeds in delivering just that.
March 29, 2018
It is a set-up as old as time, but this chilling, frequently terrifying work of horror manages to find fresh nightmare fuel in dark woods and incantations muttered in the moonlight.
March 21, 2018
Pyewacket is a slow burn chiller that is all the more impressive for its subtlety.
March 27, 2018
While Pyewacket may not be perfect, it's still a promising little feature, proving its writer/director definitely has a distinct genre voice, as long as he learns to polish the more recognizable elements into something unique.
September 15, 2017
The heavy-handed score, narrow performances and weak dialogue all fail to justify a provocative ending that overturns the exorcising conventions of the genre.
March 22, 2018
As a psychodrama about a troubled mother and daughter, this movie is gripping from start to finish.
June 08, 2018
...a decent (yet flawed) genre exercise.
December 07, 2017
A horror-lite film that barely increases the heart rate.
March 30, 2018
The director is out for blood, and while this is a slow-burn affair that craftily bides its time until just the proper moment to unleash a flurry of dexterously ominous thrills, the craven wickedness of it all is portentously intoxicating.
March 22, 2018
When it comes to horror movies that leave the biggest impression on me as a viewer, it's usually the films that tap into my emotional core that hit me the hardest, which is why Pyewacket hit me with such a ferocious gut punch.
March 24, 2018
It's the rare horror film that's actually more effective in psychological terms than in suspense ones.
March 28, 2018
A slow-burn chiller with an excellent sense of creepiness, "Pyewacket" handles evil and angst with tremendous skill.
