“The Wasteland” 2022 Review – True Isolation Horror!

For my first watch of a 2022 Horror release I ventured into The Wasteland, of which you can find on Netflix. It is a new Drama Horror release coming to us from Spain.

The Wasteland is the definitive isolation horror movie as it takes place in 19th Century Spain in a rural location. And when I say rural, I truly mean in the middle of nowhere, holding true to the movie's namesake.

A small family, consisting of Lucia (mother), Diego (son), and Salvador (father), is living faaaaarrrr removed from all civilization apparently to avoid war, violence, hatred, and all things evil from humanity. It seems as though they’ve done a really good job of it upon the opening of the film. Living off the land to survive, owning a horse, animals, crops, etc.

That is, until a stranger appears and alters their secluded way of life in unchangeable and dreadful ways. Perhaps there’s an underlying point there that nobody can escape the horrors and ways of man, no matter how hard one tries. However, there is also great sense of dread from the solitary detachment the family has from anybody and everybody. It hits those points home well enough.

From this moment forward in the story, the mom and son (Lucia and Diego) are left to fend for themselves. At the same time, the arrival of a menacing entity brings with it terror and harassment; thus challenging the sanity of the mother and testing the frailty of the pair trapped in their desolate location. Both Lucia and Diego must fight for their lives against the unwanted presence while clinging to their rationality.

Do they stay and defend the only home Diego has known? Or venture beyond their boundaries into the world they've sworn off as unacceptable and too dangerous? They may not have a choice.

My Bloody raw thoughts:

The Wasteland is very broody and dark in the way it presents itself. Many candles were harmed in the making of this film! It is visually enjoyable and effective in this realm and does a great job of keeping the grievous tone and atmosphere throughout. Discomfort is the success of The Wasteland.

The acting is compelling on a high level. This is especially true when it comes to Diego (Asier Flores), the son. For his age I was really impressed by his work. Also, the relationship between him and his mother was as endearing as it was heart-wrenching as they experience torment and Hell throughout the movie.

There's a story arc imbued here with Diego where this can be considered a coming-of-age movie. When the movie starts out the father is trying to show Diego how to kill the chickens so they can eat, chop wood, gives him a gun as a gift. Lucia tends to push Diego away from learning those things yet, especially with the gun. By the end of the movie Diego is fighting to protect himself AND his mother from the being that has chosen to frighten them.

The Wasteland also makes the viewer wonder if the haunting entity is all in the mother’s imagination, or if it is actually there to cause harm. So, on top of isolation horror you have a deep psychological level of horror interwoven within. I liked that aspect and approach from the film.

I didn’t like everything about The Wasteland. It seemed to rely on moving from jump scare to jump scare, which has become Horror cliché through the years. The climax was brief while the movie sort of ended on a fizzle. And there was not much to the plot. However, this did render itself to an easy set-up in the story, and was more mood-centric. Though, it feels like there could’ve been more to the resulting product.

That said, for the assumed small budget, small amount of cast (usually requires better overall performances), and simple straight-forward plot, The Wasteland was worth a watch to me. It earned 3 out of 5 Bloody Reels from me, counteracting the low Audience Score and IMDB rating you see listed below.

If you want something scarier, watch The Dark and the Wicked as I’ve been promoting since I’ve seen that one. If you’ve already seen that, or have an hour and a half to feel a little uncomfortable, I would give The Wasteland a shot.

I did, and it was worthy of a review!