‘Wicked Season’ VOD Review
Stars: E.K. Spila, David Oz Maya, Kirk Griffith, Paul Kolker, Melissa Cordero, Mark David Anthony, Abigail Overbey, Scott Rosen, Guillermo Iván | Written by E.K. Spila, Amy Acosta | Directed by Samuel Haun
Wicked Season opens on a sombre note with a man we’ll come to learn is Sergeant Mike “Manhunter” Hughes, played by E.K. Spila (Ghost of Goodnight Lane, The Channel) dressed for a funeral and speaking to an unseen person, or perhaps their tombstone. A siren sounds in the distance, and he walks away as the film jumps back eighty-four hours
It’s October 30th, marking the tenth anniversary of Alton Crow’s (David Oz Maya; Kanaani, Murder Made Me Famous) horrific killing spree. Now, someone is recreating his gruesome crimes, leaving a path of crucified and disembowelled women in their wake. With no leads or suspects, Captain Turner (Kirk Griffith; Humans vs Zombies, The Vast of Night) assigns Detectives Miller (Paul Kolker; Insane Like Me, Causeway) and Vega (Melissa Cordero; SnakeHead Swamp, Reborn) to talk to Hughes, the man who captured Crow.
At first, Hughes is reluctant to revisit the traumatic events from a decade earlier. He turns down their request for help, but later changes his mind, joining the detectives at Saint Anthony’s Hospital for the Criminally Insane, the institution where Crow was confined after his capture. However, the hospital is now abandoned, having been closed after a gas leak killed Crow and several other inmates.
Directed by Samuel Haun (One Last Call, A Tree in the Forest) and written by E.K. Spila and Amy Acosta (Blue Family, Love is a Battlefield), Wicked Season takes a familiar horror trope, ghost hunters in a haunted asylum, and replaces the paranormal investigators with the trio of cops and Frank (Mark David Anthony), the building’s groundskeeper. While it’s not a huge change, it does let the film work from a different perspective than we’re used to seeing in these films.
Much of the rest of the film’s plot elements remain the same as well. For example, there’s a Latin inscription on the wall of Crow’s cell, because what’s a horror movie without ominous Latin? Naturally, one of the characters reads it aloud, unintentionally unleashing the malevolent forces lurking within the building. These forces include not just Crow’s vengeful spirit, but also the ghosts of other killers who died alongside him. In another familiar subplot, one of the characters is haunted by the death of their daughter (Abigail Overbey), a trauma the demons try to use against them.
It’s evident from the start that Wicked Season operates on a shoestring budget, and the filmmakers had to get either leave things out and/or get creative with their resources. At the scene of the opening murder, the detectives repeatedly say how horrible the killing is, but what we see is limited to some blood splattered on the grass. That sets the tone for the rest of the film, with most of the deaths being off-screen or lacking effects.
That said, the filmmakers make good use of what they have. Wicked Season was shot in the Nazareth Hospital in Mineral Wells, Texas, an abandoned and reportedly haunted location that was featured on the paranormal investigation show Destination Fear. The long, dark hallways, morgue, and crematorium add an eerie authenticity to the film. Cinematographer Gabriel Lee (Tell, The Customer is Always Wrong) capitalizes on them, capturing the building’s natural creepiness and amplifying it to maintain the film’s atmosphere.
While the deaths themselves lack visual punch, the makeup work for the film’s demonic henchman, Flesh Tearer (played by Scott Rosen; Step Up Revolution, Bring It On: In It to Win It), is unsettling. Created by Jeff Fields (Daylight’s End, Dead on Set), the creature’s design is simple yet effective, it’s definitely not something you’d want to run into in a dark hallway.
As for the performances, the cast does a decent job with the material they’re given. Most of the script demands that the characters either act tough or terrified, depending on the scene and the actors handle this well. E.K. Spila’s portrayal of Hughes tries to give the character a brooding and tormented edge, but the script doesn’t give him much help. Prolific Mexican actor Guillermo Iván (Havana Darkness, Vantage Point) makes a brief but amusing appearance as a figure from Hughes’s past.
Though Wicked Season doesn’t break any new ground, it does a respectable job of stitching together tried-and-true horror elements into a cohesive and watchable, if unexceptional, film. It’s a good choice for when you just want something to watch and aren’t feeling fussy.
**½ 2.5/5
Wicked Season is currently available on digital platforms courtesy of Uncork’d Entertainment.
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