Leah is sixteen, her father has died, and her mother has moved them from the city to a house in the woods outside a town she hates. After one bad night, Leah walks into the forest with a book of occult rituals, cuts her arm and asks something to kill her mother. The next morning she regrets it. Pyewacket is a slow Canadian horror film that spends most of its 90 minutes making you unsure whether anything supernatural is happening at all.
What Happens After The Ritual
Noises in the attic. Footprints that stop in the middle of the snow. A friend, played by Chloe Rose, who comes to stay and leaves after one night. Leah’s mother, played by Laurie Holden from The Walking Dead, is trying to rebuild the relationship and has no idea what her daughter has done. The film is built around the question of whether Pyewacket, the witch’s familiar Leah called on, is real or whether Leah is coming apart. The ending answers it in a way that is worse than either option.
Why It Stands Out
Adam MacDonald made Backcountry before this and has the same patience with woods and silence. Nicole Munoz plays Leah without making her likeable, which is the right choice. There are almost no jump scares. The name comes from a familiar spirit recorded at a 1644 witch trial in England.
Watch Pyewacket On GoMovies
90 minutes in HD above. Free, no sign-up.
