Wounds (2019)

User Review

• 

  TheMovieDiorama

  2 / 10

  Wounds adds salt to the horrific lacerations by simply doing nothing with its premise. Metaphysical tears in a relationship, ‘The Visible Filth’, can deteriorate the mind and the soul of both individuals. The streams of sorrow and regret, taking control of thoughts and actions. An unfortunate circumstance that is experienced by the most enraptured of couples. So I’m somewhat confused. No wait, I’m terribly befuddled. Anvari previously directed an apparent debut horror masterpiece with ‘Under the Shadow’ (I’ve yet to see it...), and decided to venture into the Hollywood mainstream with this psychological mess. Only one question overwhelmed my brain during the final cockroach-infested scene: “What. In the actual. Heck?”.
  
  A bartender breaks up a brawl and picks up a lost mobile phone that was left by some underaged students. He happens to guess the password on his second attempt based on the screen smudges and slowly becomes possessed by something from the “tunnel”.
  
  The titular metaphor is one that requires little to no effort in depicting. Wounds in a relationship force the participants to become distant and more aggressive. That much is clear, and Anvari sets a melodramatic tone from the initial bar sequence that overpowers the “horror” elements. Then Hammer grabs the mobile phone, tests its durability by slamming it a decent six times throughout the film, and thus begins the narrative collapse.
  
  Irrefutably, without batting an eyelid, I can confidently say nothing happened in this feature. Absolutely zero progression. The final minute of filming replicated the initial minute in terms of development. Every single character was unlikeable. Every single jump scare was a bloodshot eye flashing on the screen in rapid succession accompanied by a piercing noise. The plot is near incomprehensible due to forced underdeveloped horror elements that had no resonation with the melodramatic moments. Gnostic rituals? Dimensional portal from a well-rounded man’s face? Profusely sweaty armpits? Thematically and literarily, the plot is nullified by unintelligent tendencies that irritate this wounded flick.
  
  Such a stellar cast wasted on a potboiler script. Hammer deserves better. Beetz deserves better. Johnson definitely deserves better. I’m at a loss. I really am. The inexplicable character choices, from refusing to hand the phone to the police to even unlocking the device in the first place, left me facepalming on multiple occasions. Oh, and serving underaged persons. Come on! The plot conveniences that make little to no sense, from the unexplained students in this cultish circle to the entire final five minute idiocy, hampered the psychological examination of a broken relationship. Is anything actually explained? I shan’t know as I drifted in and out of sleep for the conclusive thirty minutes. The amount of alcohol consumption? Adultery? Stealing?
  
  There really is nothing to admire here. A huge misfire for Anvari that has cemented this VOD original securely as one of the worst of the year. It was over an hour and a half yet it felt like three hours. That, in itself, has wounded me. The recovery will be long and arduous...

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