Cobweb (2023)

Rapunzel meets Straw Dogs in this Halloween horror story that builds an uncomfortably paranoid atmosphere centred around an eight-year-old boy who lives with his secretive parents in an old dilapidated house, hears things go bump in the night and is bullied at school by day. Can it get much worse?

Oh yes...

In many ways, the film is a breath of fresh air in a well-worn genre, and I won't hesitate to call it an instant classic. Though relying on familiar clichés, it twists and turns them inventively in new and delightful ways. The camerawork, set design, lighting, music and dark atmosphere sucked me in all the way to the end, which was a little more cheesy than I expected. But until then, it's a marvellous journey through an original and nightmarish tale.

The director, French Samuel Bodin, delighted us four years ago with the TV horror series "Marianne" and the actors should definitely be mentioned, especially Woody Norman as the boy Peter and Antony Starr (Homelander from The Boyz) as his father.