This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the film being covered here wouldn’t exist.The buzz surrounding Cobweb began in 2018 when Chris Thomas Devlin’s (2022’s Texas Chainsaw Massacre) script appeared in The Black List, an annual survey of the most-liked screenplays that haven’t yet become movies. Expectations increased after the movie added stars Lizzy Caplan (Fatal Attraction) and Antony Starr (The Boys) to the project. With a supposedly tight script and powerhouse performers, Cobweb seemed a sure hit. Unfortunately, something went wrong in the editing room, dragging an interesting concept down.

Cobweb follows eight-year-old Peter (Woody Norman), a shy child who often gets bullied at school and struggles to make friends. Peter’s situation at home is not much better, as his overprotective parents (Caplan and Starr) impose strict rules that prevent Peter from thoroughly enjoying his childhood. For instance, the movie opens with a one-week countdown to Halloween before quickly revealing Peter is not allowed to join the trick-or-treat festivities. Peter’s situation at school improves when he meets a substitute teacher, Miss Devine (Cleopatra Coleman). At home, however, Peter begins to enrage his parents after telling them he’s heard strange scratching and knocking sounds inside his bedroom wall.

As days pass and Halloween gets closer, the thing on the wall starts whispering dark secrets in Peter’s ear. Meanwhile, the boys’ parents escalate the punishment they dispense to Peter for his supposed lies about the noises he heard. The parents are obviously hiding something, as weird things have been happening in the house since the movie’s began. Still, Cobweb keeps the mystery going until the end, with varying degrees of success.RELATED: ‘Cobweb’: Release Date, Cast, Plot, and Everything We Know About the Antony Starr Horror Movie

Each clue about the voice inside the wall takes the audience closer to figuring out what’s happening. Furthermore, since Cobweb plays with well-known horror tropes, genre fans shouldn’t take long to piece things together. After that, the movie becomes a waiting game as people anticipate the chaos that Cobweb will unleash. Unfortunately, even though things get deliciously bonkers in the final stretch, the journey is disrupted by a few creative choices.

‘Cobweb’ Editing Harms Cohesion
Image via Lionsgate

Despite a short 98-minute runtime, Cobweb tries to deal with too many parallel subplots. While Peter’s relationship with his parents is the main thing pushing the story forward, we also watch the boy bond with his teacher and face his bullies. All the while, the voice in the wall becomes more present as time runs down to Halloween. There’s also a whole different mystery about a girl who vanished four years prior and whose disappearance might explain Peter’s parent’s obsession with his safety and obedience.

All these threads tie together in the ending, but there’s not enough space to explore everything beyond a surface level. Instead, it often feels like Cobweb leaps to new scenes without giving enough time to the previous one. The lack of coherence between a few of Cobweb’s moments is only aggravated by some key events happening off-screen. It’s like entire scenes were left in the editing room, which is hard to justify considering how quickly the movie gets to the credits.

Lizzy Caplan and Antony Starr Steal the Show
Image via Lionsgate

In Cobweb’s lowest points, Caplan and Starr carry the movie on their backs. The two stars perfectly understood the job description and played the role of the parents with an anxiety-inducing ambiguity that elevates every scene in which they appear. So, whenever the mystery of Cobweb struggles to keep audiences engaged, Caplan and Starr are there, with a mix of genuine love and ruthless authority. Without the duo, it would be harder to get to the ending. That is a shame, as Cobweb’s third act is everything a horror movie should be.

While a horror movie is better when it has something to say, people also seek this kind of entertainment to feel afraid in a safe space. There’s something enthralling about the adrenaline rush that comes from watching a scary movie in a dark theater. Fortunately, that’s still a pleasure to be had with Cobweb. That’s because once the film takes the foot off the brakes, it taps into the same deranged energy that made movies like Barbarian successful, pulling the rug under the audience’s feet and cranking the weirdness up to eleven.

While Cobweb is at its best once it leaves subtlety behind, something must be said about the inconvenient visual effects used in the third act, including distracting CGI shadows. There’s a unique beauty in horror supported by practical effects, while computer-generated bits make things less impactful. So, even if people will leave theaters frightened, increased attention to production design could have helped Cobweb to linger longer than it does.

There’s no sugarcoating Cobweb’s flaws, from pacing to convoluted editing. Yet, the movie does have the potential to become a crowd-pleaser, as it does deliver the scares. It might not be a particularly memorable horror film, but it’s still entertaining, and sometimes that’s all the reason we need to go to theaters.

Rating: B-

Cobweb comes to theaters on Friday, July 21.