Wounds (2026)
Synopsis
Our Wounds review considers a horror story about a struggling special-effects artist, where a promising premise and some unsettling ideas compete with effects that don’t always land.
William's Wounds Review
I thought Wounds was okay, but it's one of those movies where I think there was a better film somewhere in the idea than what we actually got. It's not terrible, and there's enough here that I wouldn't completely dismiss it, but several choices just didn't work for me.
One thing that really surprised me was the CGI. The movie is about a special effects makeup artist who's struggling to prove himself, so I would have thought this was the perfect opportunity to showcase practical effects. Instead, there's quite a bit of noticeable CGI. There's even a scene where he removes a facial application and puts it on a table that looked digital to me. Maybe it wasn't, but it certainly looked that way. And when people get stabbed, the blood looks digital and can be distracting. Given the subject of the movie, those choices seemed strange.
Jack Kilmer plays Caleb in a very subdued way, which works to a point, but eventually I found myself getting bored. I don't mind a quiet or reserved character, but as things get worse, I need to see some kind of change. His actions become more extreme, yet emotionally he never seems to go anywhere. Even toward the climax, the performance doesn't really build with what Caleb is doing, and I think that takes away from moments that should have had a lot more impact.
I thought Paris Jackson did a decent job with what she was given. I haven't seen her in anything else, but I could see her doing well with a stronger script. Some of the other performances were harder to get behind. At times the dialogue felt stiff, and other times someone would go over the top when the scene didn't call for it. I don't know how much of that comes down to the actors, the writing or Ron Krauss's direction, but I noticed it.
The music also pulled me out of the movie a few times. It should either complement the scene without calling attention to itself or be a great needle-drop moment that makes the scene better. For me, it did neither.
I think Wounds had an interesting premise, but the script and some questionable effects choices held it back. There's enough here that I wouldn't completely write it off, though I came pretty close.
