Tribeca 2022: A Wounded Fawn Review

This will be one of several reviews from this year’s Tribeca film Festival. To follow our coverage, click here.

The isolationist nature of a remote cabin somewhere in the woods is a location ripe for horror which has been the basis of countless films over decades. Many audiences are likely familiar and have more or less felt those same feelings of dread therefore newer films have to try and find a way to break through in order to resonate. That being said, the horror genre nevertheless still has a massive fanbase who keep coming back. When it comes to A Wounded Fawn, it is a decent psychological horror that follows along some of those same lines before eventually succumbing to its trippy imagery and falling off the rails narratively. In spite of those issues, the film brings plenty of blood and gore to the table and a fun retro style but what ultimately carries the film is a pair of dynamic performances from Josh Reuben and Sarah Lind as a charming serial killer and his would be victim though things proved to not quite be as simple as that which is where the fun comes from.

A Wounded Fawn centers around a man named Bruce (Reuben), a charming serial killer who bring his next victim, an emotionally-vulnerable woman named Meredith (Lind) to his remote cabin for the weekend. Coming off of a huge breakup, she fell for his charm right away. Little did she know, Bruce’s true intentions for Meredith which may or may not have been his as a mysterious figure seemingly loomed over him and forcing him to kill. However, Meredith certainly did not make it easy for Bruce but as far as Bruce was concerned, it was only the beginning for him. The film takes a turn from there and arguably gets somewhat ridiculous as his past found a way to haunt him. In that craziness, things got a little too tough to follow and perhaps turning off one’s mind is best to get through with it. However, the film still finds a way to create some tension there. By the time the end comes, the impact was just not there.

At the end of the day, the best part of A Wounded Fawn was its performances if only for making all the craziness work and keeping it watchable. Reuben’s arc over the course of the film as Bruce was fun to watch as the charming serial killer was knocked down a few levels. Lind’s Meredith, meanwhile, was a formidable foil. Both just needed to be deeper characters.

As a film, A Wounded Fawn does enough to get by but that definition will depend on each viewer.

still courtesy of Tribeca

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Keith Noakes

The EIC of the coincidentally-named keithlovesmovies.com. A Canadian who prefers to get out of the cold and into the warmth of a movie theatre.