Taut, dramatic, suspenseful with a devilish twist Way of the Wicked comes to DVD and Blu-ray. The nicely acted indie has a compelling story that although familiar at times, still makes a mark of its own. Running the gamut of evil versus good the fine direction holds you spellbound to the final twisted finale. If you like your horror of a supernatural kind, then this film should entertain.
Young preteen Robbie Muller (Ryan Grantham) gets involved in a fight with a young boy and a powerful telekinetic wave comes from the direction of Robbie killing the child. Determined an accidental death, Robbie gets exonerated. 5 years past and the now 17 year old Robbie (Jake Croker) turns up at the local high school after the long absence. There he runs into Heather Elliot (Emily Tennant) who was one of the kids with Robbie at the time of the incident. Being she was his first crush, he wants to start up a relationship, but Heather has been hanging with Greg (Aren Buchholz) one of the most popular kids in school.
Still attracted to Robbie, Heather befriends him as the “new teen” in school. But, Heather has her own personal problems with the death of her mother and being brought up by a very strict father, John Elliot (Vinnie Jones). She often gravitates to Robbie even though her best friend Cindy (Brittney Wilson) pressers her to stay away from the boy. When Greg gets killed, Father Henry (Christian Slater) the local priest points his finger at Robbie.
One of the hardest things to do is to add twists to the plot, especially those you don’t see coming. In Way of the Wicked director Kevin Carraway puts himself to the test and comes up a winner. He wraps his audience in a supernatural thriller that takes you on a mesmerizing journey into the lives of several teens that interact in a drama that could have been easily predictable. Then he starts to feed clues that cloud your perception of what has taken place and unravels it all in the end.
The acting by the whole cast is quite good. I especially liked the two leads Emily Tennant and Jake Croker, the two teenagers who have an on again, off again relationship. Tennant keeps her portrayal of Heather on the front burner, being pulled between her father, Greg, Robbie and Cindy. She’s confused, yet determined to figure it all out on her own.
As Robbie, Croker pulls out a very good performance as the bad boy who wants to get back into Heather’s life. He’s determined to be with her and protect her from the guys who just want her for a toy. He’s under the microscope of Father Henry and John Elliot who want to take him down for the murder of Greg. This is his first film feature, but you wouldn’t know it from his star like ability to bring his character to the screen.
If you picked up this film looking for an amazing performance by Christian Slater, he’s not in it long enough for that. His character father Henry, although a central item in the mystery of the killings, isn’t in it that long. He’s featured in the first act as the concerned priest who thinks the devil has possession of Robbie and later in the film he returns to help sort it all out. While he and Vinnie Jones are just icing on the cake, the real performances come from the teens that make the film work.
The DVD quality is average for both audio and video although I liked the fact that it filled my whole 16×9 HD television. The sound quality is good using the Dolby Digital 5.1 and I found no distortion whatsoever. The dialogue is easily understandable and the few special effects in the film showed nicely on the screen.
Way of the Wicked has not been rated by the MPAA but contains violence, language, teen drug use, teen drinking and adult situations. Be cautious when deciding to allow immature children see the film as it does have some scenes that are inappropriate for adolescents.
Specifications and additional film information:
Cast: Christian Slater, Vinnie Jones, Emily Tennant, Jake Croker, Aren Buchholz and Brittney Wilson
Director: Kevin Carraway
MPAA Rating: Unrated, contains, violence, language, teen drug use, teen drinking
Genre: Horror, Suspense, Thriller
Running Time: 1 hr 32 min
Video Release Date: May 20, 2014
Language: English
Format: DVD
Audio: Dolby Digital 5.1
Video: Widescreen 16×9 Aspect Ratio 1.85:1
Subtitles: None
Number of Discs: 1 Disc
Distributed by: RLJ Entertainment
Writer, critic, film editor John Delia, Sr. has been on all sides of the movie business from publications to film making. He has worked as a film critic with ACED Magazine for more than 20 years and other publications for a total of 40 years. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in communications from the University of Florida. John is a member of the Southeastern Film Critics Association and Critics Association of Central Florida Send John a message at jdelia@acedmagazine.com
