You hear the favored chorus quite a bit that aspiring filmmakers solely want a digicam, dedication, and creativity. The fact of this trade is barely extra difficult than that, sadly, however few films actually seize that run-and-gun really feel of constructing absolutely the most out of a shoestring finances greater than “Wonderful.”

The schlocky horror movie, which acquired its Shudder streaming debut again in August of 2022 and celebrated its house media launch earlier this month (which supplies me full reign to incorporate it on this version of my column, yay for loopholes!), follows Ryan Kwanten’s forlorn Wes, who’s on the cusp of a breakdown after what looks as if a long-term relationship gone bitter. Cue the aimless drive to nowhere, an alcohol-fueled meltdown at a relaxation cease, and encountering a Lovecraftian entity trapped in a public rest room that refuses to let Wes depart till he saves the world.

, simply your customary post-breakup stuff.

Directed with tangible aplomb by Rebekah McKendry from a script by Joshua Hull and David Ian McKendry, the movie largely focuses on a single character in a single location — guided alongside by the impeccable voice work of none aside from J.Ok. Simmons because the horrifying, non-corporeal creature referred to as Ghatanothoa (Ghat, for brief!). It might be simple for a premise like this to disappoint in its execution, however McKendry by no means as soon as offers viewers an opportunity to grow to be bored by the shortage of scope and scale of this venture. It helps that Kwanten makes Wes really feel like essentially the most pathetic man on Earth, Simmons gives loads of dry humor, and the visuals at work all the time retains issues wanting attention-grabbing — and slightly gross, too.

“Wonderful” is at present streaming on Shudder and accessible to buy on VOD, Blu-ray, and DVD.