"The Wicked" is a slightly different take on the well worn theme of a group of American teens visiting a haunted house; we have skepticism, sexual tension and of course recalcitrance. It begins fairly dynamically with a young girl snatched from her bedroom by a supernatural presence, but loses its way a bit. The girl is presumed dead, but there is no presumed about the next victim, who meets a grisly end. So what is going on here?The house in the woods is inhabited by a witch, a hideous hag, but she doesn't intend to stay hideous for much longer, though in order to restore herself to her former glory, she must consume a young girl for youth, a male teen or two for strength, and a mature teen for beauty. Or something like that. Our intrepid adventurers are aware of this from the word go because it is a local legend. The real problem with this witch is that she is so powerful, how can they possible combat her? The answer is of course with magic of their own. And wouldn't you know it? - one of their number is the grandson of a recently deceased local magician from whom he has learned a trick or two.

I was shocked that the movie was as good as it was, since I saw the IMDb grade and thought "should I waste my time watching this?" and I do not regret the choice I made! I've seen worse movies with higher grades. The story is kind of a cliché, but it is doable anyway. The actors are actually good compared to what I was expecting and some of the effects were actually well made. I cant say that everything was, but some. It gave me a few jumpscares, not much but little. The movie also made me laugh a few times with some of the punchlines.So, if you like me, are at home at a Saturday night, looking for a movie to watch just to pass the time, this is the one.

This movie centers on an old town ghost story that the abandoned house in the woods is occupied by the spirit of a witch. The local kids use it as a dare to go out there and break the windows which is told will invoke the witch's spirit. When a young girl named Amanda (Caitlin Carmichael) disappears after doing just that, the locals blame it on the legend of the witch. This doesn't stop Zach (Deeley) from taking his friends out to the site to party, have sex and then of course break the windows of the house. Before you can say "eye of newt" the group is being captured and killed by the CGI witch as they try to escape and save the imprisoned Amanda. The by-the-numbers story and cardboard characters don't help this pretty predictable movie that makes it tough to find a character to side with. The closest we come to is Zach's younger brother Max played by Devon Werkheiser and his spunky tomboy girlfriend played by talented actress Diana Hopper. The mostly CGI witch doesn't do much in the way of getting scares, but the movie does paint the screen red at times with the demise of a few characters. It just seems like writer Michael Vickerman should have written one more draft of this script to iron out the bumps and a shorter running time could have turned this into a nice B flick to enjoy. The movie is well made and certainly watchable, but the undercooked script and story drain it from truly being effective.

You know that it's pretty sad when you have to start with 'Well, it wasn't awful'...And it WAS a shame too because I think with about 20+ minutes trimmed out and with much tighter and better direction, it could have been good, creepy fun.The first hour was pretty good and the last 15 minutes were pretty good, but at about the 1 hour mark, unfortunately the next 20-30 minutes really hurt the film I feel. If that could have been tightened up so that the level of suspense and tension could have been maintained, I think that would have REALLY made the difference. I rated it about a 4 and I truly think that it easily could have been closer to a 7. Very sad...The film was about 1:45 minutes long; just TOO damn long for a simple story like this. So, the best way to make up for that is to pare it down to make the very best of whatever tension and momentum has been created so far. THAT is where a better director (IF he has the control over the film) SHOULD recognize this and then wisely trim it where it needs it. NOT let it run for so long where it's effectiveness almost completely dissipates. ***MINOR SPOILERSYou see, the point up until the witch appears is decent. And parts of the ending are pretty good. I really like the brief scene where the cop is looking right at the table where Zack has been tied and gagged, but he apparently sees only an empty table. That reminded me a little of the excellent effect used in Malone's VERY underrated 'THE HOUSE ON HAUNTED HILL' (1999) where when pointing a camera at the ancient operating table in the sanitarium, and on the view screen the doctor and nurses are performing some diabolical operation and even stop and look at the camera. But looking directly at the room and table they don't see anything. I think the BIG mistake that took away from the effectiveness of the film here was showing the witch WAY too much too early. They should have kept her in the shadows and in the dark and let our imaginations fill in the details. THEN, towards the end (after excising the needed 20 minutes of footage or so) I think it would have had a lot more impact bringing that in to give more punch to the end. But, with all the scenes of her disappearing in front of the person and re-appearing behind them... Come on... Really...?***END SPOILERSEven the acting isn't too painful for this type of film; the director DOES do a pretty good job at keeping the actors reigned in. None of them came across as TOO horribly clichéd like they usually do. Although Carter and his girlfriend were definitely the weaker of the group. And I thought it was funny how Max kept holding his mouth open; he looked hilariously dumb when he did that. But, all in all not too terrible.This really COULD have been a fun little Horror film if the makers had had enough talent and insight to bring out the strengths and get rid of the weaknesses (along with a good 20+ minutes of footage) I get the impression that this is yet another case of someone or some ones behind the scenes, perhaps producers taking control and saying something blindingly STUPID (but typical) like 'I think we need more jump scares' Which is PRECISELY what happened to Guillermo Del Toro with his fist American film 'MIMIC' (the Weinsteins screwed with it) Fortunately, since then he has become this HUGE, successful director, so THANKFULLY he went back and re-edited the film and made it WONDERFULLY better! I DO highly recommend the new Director's Cut Blu-ray, BTW...Anyway, back to this film. I'm surprised that I am taking so DAMN much time typing all this, but I guess I just feel strongly that this movie could have been SO much better and I suppose I'm just really sensing a missed opportunity here...