How scary is ‘Cobweb?’

Cobweb is an underrated horror film that came and went in theaters with little fanfare, but is nevertheless seeing an overdue renaissance on streaming. With Halloween around the corner and fanatics of the genre lining up their binge marathons, how scary is it?

The film centers on Woody Norman’s Peter, a young child who begins hearing a voice in his room, through the wall, asking him for help. When he goes to his parents, played by Lizzy Caplan and Antony Starr, they don’t seem to believe him. Meanwhile, a kind-hearted substitute teacher, played by Cleopatra Coleman, reaches out to the family when she notices Peter is acting troubled at school.

Personally, I just saw Cobweb on Hulu and have some opinions on it. Like many others, I missed the movie’s theatrical release. Many overlooked the film due to it coming out on the same release day as Barbie and Oppenheimer. For me, I simply haven’t been going to the movies as often as I’d like to lately as I completely missed the Barbenheimer craze, too.

But now that I’m catching up via streaming on all the movies I missed out on in theaters this year, how did Cobweb fair when it comes to the level of scariness? I use a scale of 1-5 when it comes to scariness, which breaks down below:

1. Not scary at all
2. A little bit scary
3. Very scary
4. “I’m about to poop my pants in fright”
5. “Not only do I need new trousers, I need a therapist”

Will Cobweb leave you shaking or just eager to sleep?

Cobweb left me pleasantly surprised as I found it not only well crafted but pretty darn spine-tingling as well. Thus I give the movie a 3 – Very scary. Frankly, the movie got bumped up from a 2 to 3 due to a dream sequence that happens about halfway through. After that extremely creepy moment, it gratefully continued to deliver the chills.

I would recommend Cobweb to fans of the horror genre. However, I will say that it does not rise above a 3 for me due to it having thriller elements rather than wall-to-wall horror. With that said, I’m quite baffled by the movie’s 59 percent critical score on Rotten Tomatoes as I personally loved it overall.

The many twists and turns and ruminations on themes of when parental nurturing can turn to abuse are somewhat comparable to last year’s Barbarian. It doesn’t go in the direction you expect but features a satisfying reversal with a memorable creature that is the perfect type of thing to watch during Halloween, especially due to how many pumpkins there are.

I have a feeling Cobweb is destined to become a classic of the spooky season in the years to come.