Disturbing and mysterious things begin to happen to a bartender in New Orleans after he brings home a phone that was left behind at his bar.
After Eli left me feeling conflicted, I was intrigued to receive an email from Netflix recommending another horror-esque film. This film (which interestingly is also streaming on Hulu in some countries and Netflix in others) involved some pretty big names in the cast; Armie Hammer (The Social Network, Hotel Mumbai, On the Basis of Sex, and Sorry to Bother You), Dakota Johnson ( The Social Network, the Fifty Shades franchise, and Suspiria), and Zazie Beetz (Joker, Deadpool 2, High Flying Bird, and Geostorm) filling out that cast lineup.
I referred to Wounds as horror-esque as it includes many horror elements, and director Babak Anvari uses cinematography to create suspense and tension brilliantly, but in the end, this is a drama. To call it a horror, is to mislead the audience as to the pacing of the flick. As a dark, psychological drama, Wounds is quite well executed for the first two acts (84 minutes of the runtime). Unfortunately, the film cuts off before the expected payoff, ending the film a mere ten minutes later. Yes, Wounds sticks to the usual hour and a half time-frame for a horror, despite the film having an initial two acts that lend itself to a longer structure (110 minutes would suffice, but 120 minutes would ideal).
There is an intriguing narrative that is teased throughout the film, like a game of whack-a-mole, where the audience doesn't know what, where, when, how, or why anything will happen. Similar to Eli's final act, there are a lot of genuinely exciting visual elements in the first two acts of Wounds, but ultimately there is no payoff. Where Eli used every light trick and jump scare trope to try and distract from the lack of story, Wounds has a lot of super-effective spooky visual elements that hold the interest of the audience. Unfortunately, these elements aren't paid off. At most, there is one story thread that ends, the rest are left in various stages, unresolved.
That final scene ends with such conviction and conciseness that it will likely trigger those fans that cried out in disharmony after the way that The Sopranos ended their finale. One cannot necessarily place the blame on the director or cast, because the film is faithful to the source material. Wounds is based on Nathan Ballingrud's short story, The Visible Filth. The 86-page doesn't really answer any of the big questions either, so it's going to come down to the taste of the viewer, whether they would be happy with an open-ended mystery horror.
There is still a good film in here, though. Hammer and Beetz do a brilliant job with the script they were given, and though this film certainly isn't passing the Bechdel test (Dakota Johnson's role in this film is literally to be the emotionless shell of a girlfriend to Hammer's character), Beetz gains more charisma and onscreen chemistry with every role she does, and Hammer pulls off a pretty convincing (albeit inconsistent) descent into the mouth of madness.
If it had an additional 20-30 minutes at the end of the film this would have been something stunning. Instead, it attempts to subvert expectations by ending right when things start to climax. The human drama is good, and the creepy elements keep you invested, but it fails to leave you with a sense of satisfaction. The great acting, competent score, smooth cinematography, and practical effects are all let down by a conclusion that felt like the director ran out of money at the start of the third act.
It could definitely lead to some interesting conversations around how one would end the story, but the story is so overwhelmingly uneventful. The horror aspects (no matter how competent) ended up serving as a distraction as the scant attempts at explaining the lore leaves much to be desired.