Pyewacket

It’s the rare horror film that’s actually more effective in psychological terms than in suspense ones.

Pyewacket is a slow-burn chiller that is all the more impressive for its subtlety.

Pyewacket's payoff is a bit too meager given the creepy build-up. But as a psychodrama about a troubled mother and daughter, this movie is gripping from start to finish. Like a lot of the best horror, it's about the hells people conjure for themselves.

The heavy-handed score, narrow performances (Nicole Munoz as the repeatedly terrified daughter; Laurie Holden as the dense mum) and weak dialogue all fail to justify a provocative ending that overturns the exorcising conventions of the genre.

Surly goth teenagers dabbling in the occult have become a horror movie cliché, but with Adam MacDonald's followup to his excellent debut Backcountry, it is an effective and compelling slow burn. With great performances from the leads (including Laurie Holden of The Mist and The Walking Dead), it explores what happens when a troubled teen follows up on her darkest wish. The final act is creepy and disturbing even though it comes to an abrupt end too early leaving us wanting more.

Pyewacket grabs attention with its folk horror premise, and for much of the runtime, it delivers a convincing and intriguing story—until the final act, where things take a noticeable dip. The plot follows Leah, a teenager grappling with the recent death of her father and her mother’s emotional unraveling. This environment, ripe for self-pity, leads Leah down a dark path of fascination with black magic and the occult. In a moment driven more by rage than reason, she summons a supernatural entity that puts her life in danger. The horror element holds steady throughout, keeping us glued to our seats in anticipation of the entity’s arrival. And when it finally appears on screen, the creature design is solid—a satanic, grotesque figure worthy of a sinister ritual. But that’s where it ends. A story that once held promise crashes into an abrupt, anticlimactic finale—like a gut punch after a gourmet meal. It feels as if the production team suddenly had to wrap things up: “Close the curtains, we’re done here, slap on an ending and move on.” A sad conclusion for what could’ve been a standout narrative. Strip away that flaw, and Pyewacket still offers a compelling tale of occult and folk horror. The entity is well-crafted, and the overall narrative is solid—but the ending falls short. Like something bitter for those who enjoy it, this is a good film that leaves a sour taste at the end.

[SPOILER ALERT: This review contains spoilers.]

I have a lot of issues with Pyewacket: (dull dialogue between the mother and her daughter, bad set up for the dramatic aspect, some scary scenes that either don't have too much to do with the story or just were poorly executed, slow pacing that didn't work before the climax), but this indie flick also has a lot of pros: Adam MacDonald used many clever techniques for shooting the jump scares and the other scary scenes using very wide shots to reveal somethings which is very unique and creative way to be used in Horror films. The slow pacing helped the film after the climax and really made it an insidious slow **** movie established masterful rules and basics for the evil force from using the rituals. Also, the sound engineering and the editing are top-notch and so risky to be used that way in a horror film but that made some scenes seem way scarier than what they could have been. All the performances were very good and helped enhancing the terror aspect and elevating the dramatic one. The psychological part played a vital role to make me invested in the characters and the story itself, and of course Nicole Muñoz who played Leah has a big role in that. The cinematography is great; it is dreary and gloomy but also strangely beautiful. (6.5/10)

I have a lot of issues with Pyewacket: (dull dialogue between the mother and her daughter, bad set up for the dramatic aspect, some scary scenes that either don't have too much to do with the story or just were poorly executed, slow pacing that didn't work before the climax), but this indie flick also has a lot of pros: Adam MacDonald used many clever techniques for shooting the jump scares and the other scary scenes using very wide shots to reveal somethings which is very unique and creative way to be used in Horror films. The slow pacing helped the film after the climax and really made it an insidious slow **** movie established masterful rules and basics for the evil force from using the rituals. Also, the sound engineering and the editing are top-notch and so risky to be used that way in a horror film but that made some scenes seem way scarier than what they could have been. All the performances were very good and helped enhancing the terror aspect and elevating the dramatic one. The psychological part played a vital role to make me invested in the characters and the story itself, and of course Nicole Muñoz who played Leah has a big role in that. The cinematography is great; it is dreary and gloomy but also strangely beautiful. (6.5/10)