Nerdly » ‘Wickedness’ VOD Review

29th Dec2025

‘Wickedness’ VOD Review

by Phil Wheat

Stars: Rebecca Rose McIlroy, Sophie Rankin, Christopher Blackmore, Mary Eva Sharp, Nicola Ditter, Clara Legallais-Moha, Brynmor Leyshon, Graeme Muncer, Lynne O’Sullivan, Karolina Wojciechowska | Written by Harry Boxley | Directed by E J Marshall

If you’ve followed Champdog Films over the past few years – and let’s be honest, if you read Nerdly, you’ve heard more about their catalogue than is probably healthy – you’ll know exactly what they specialise in. Micro-budget genre films. Fast-turnaround productions with titles that feel very familiar. Recently, they’ve specialised in lean, mean genre fare – a lot written by Harry Boxley, who seems to be physically incapable of sleeping between scripts. Wickedness marks Boxley’s first collaboration with emerging director EJ Marshall, whose IMDb page is still in single digits and who re-teamed for Bikini Shark shortly after. Marshall’s work here is very much in line with Champdog’s house style: clean, functional coverage; straightforward staging; nothing flashy and nothing that hints at an emerging auteur voice. And having already seen Bikini Shark, it’s fair to say the pattern holds – competent, economical filmmaking designed to get the story told efficiently within tight constraints. Whether Marshall is a genuine newcomer or just another name in the company’s famously fluid credit roster, the output so far shows solid execution rather than distinct stylistic personality.

The setup is classic mythmaking: two magically gifted sisters, Aradia and Maret, dabble with forces far beyond their skill level, and one mistake leaves Maret transformed into a green-skinned, fury-fuelled witch. Aradia tries to move on; Maret festers in resentment inside a magically reinforced psychiatric facility. Ten years pass… but curses age badly, and naturally, Maret chooses Aradia’s birthday to stage her escape and reignite their supernatural family feud.

From there, Wickedness becomes a swirling blend of fantasy, revenge thriller and witchy soap opera. Aradia’s friends are dragged into the chaos, loyalties twist, and the film leans into generational witch lore involving wizard dads, witch mums, and a bloodline that seems perpetually one argument away from either therapy or mass destruction. The magic effects are applied with typical Champdog thrift: practical where possible, CGI for the most part, and a commitment to making the most of what’s available.

Boxley’s script moves at a pace, hitting heightened emotional beats with the pulp sincerity that’s become his unofficial trademark. Marshall keeps the story coherent, and the performances grounded enough to give the sisterly conflict a surprising amount of weight. Rebecca Rose McIlroy and Sophie Rankin embrace the melodrama fully, selling the long-brewing bitterness that finally erupts into a magical showdown that is, surprisingly, worthy of the build-up.

Look, Wickedness isn’t trying to rival prestige fantasy (like the film that CLEARLY inspired it). It’s micro-budget magical mayhem delivered with complete earnestness – the exact pocket Champdog operates in best. It’s also one of their more entertaining entries, balancing melodrama with a surprisingly cohesive emotional throughline. And yes, it arrives very conveniently close to a certain studio’s enormously hyped witch musical, but Champdog have never been shy about surfing a cultural wave when the tide is high.

As a piece of opportunistic supernatural cinema, Wickedness absolutely delivers: scrappy, earnest, occasionally bonkers, and carried by performers who commit fully to the bit. Fans of Champdog’s output, or anyone in the mood for green-faced revenge, wand fights, and deeply dysfunctional magical families, should have a good time.