Panic Fest 2025 Coverage
Old Wounds review
Old Wounds is in no hurry to define itself. Just when you think it has…it redefines everything.
Festival reviews will not contain spoilers.
Old Wounds
Directed by Steven Hugh Nelson
Written by Steven Hugh Nelson
Starring Chelsey Grant, Steven Hugh Nelson and Brian Villalobos
Old Wounds Review
I spent the majority of my time with Old Wounds trying to figure out what aspect of the story was going to end up mattering most. When the credits rolled…I immediately wanted to watch it again to see how the movie weaved its final statement into its story. It’s hard to imagine two thoughts that will better show that Old Wounds invokes the reaction that it wants from you. I had no idea what this movie was until its final moments. That’s by design. It takes a risk…that you’ll be engaged without answers for the duration of a story that often seems to have no purpose. I was. And it does
Put simply…Old Wounds is a found footage movie about a couple returning to one of their childhood homes. Ok…your brains already forming a picture. Creepy things happen…past trauma will be explored…lots of night shooting. You’re not wrong. All the tried and true aspects of the genre are firmly on display here. But do any of them matter? That’s the question I kept returning to, with interest, as Old Wounds redefined itself each time that I thought I got a handle on its direction.
Ashley (Chelsey Grant) is heading to her childhood home with her boyfriend Steve (Steven Hugh Nelson). He’s a wannabe filmmaker…and, as such, films everything along the way. He isn’t the only one filming, however. Perspective quickly, and often, changes to the viewpoint of someone filming the couple as they take their journey.
That summary is what Old Wounds is…for about thirty minutes. It takes those thirty minutes seriously…doing a fine job both establishing its lead characters (aided by likable performances from both Grant and Nelson) and with its spooky voyeur aesthetic. Had Old Wounds chosen to be this movie for its entire runtime…it would have been an effective version of something we’ve seen many times before.
Thirty minutes (or so) into Old Wounds…everything changes. It’s not the only time that it does. There’s a knock at the door, a video tape on the porch…and an identity to the until then unseen videographer. I’m not going to spoil what happens from here…but Old Wounds is far more of a character driven story than a found footage horror movie. Each character is carrying heavy baggage with them…trust between them wavers quickly and often. Whenever you feel like you’ve identified the direction that Old Wounds is heading with its latest character reveal…it pulls that rug out too.
The risk that Old Wounds takes isn’t the large narrative turn it offers after act one. It’s the continuous smaller turns it takes after that. The story doesn’t let you get a bead on it…because you aren’t entirely sure what is going to really matter. Or, after a point, what is even true. I found the approach refreshing and engaging enough to keep me invested throughout. Even as a seemingly out of nowhere shift happens again in the film’s climax. At that point…I’m along for the ride. I really wanted to know where the journey in Old Wounds has been leading to.
It’s in no hurry to tell you. In fact, I remained unsure of what was happening in Old Wounds until the final lines of the movie. I wouldn’t describe that penny finally dropping as a revelatory experience…but it is, undoubtably, an interesting one. Armed with full understanding of Old Wounds’ story…my first instinct was to start it over from the beginning. Taken as a narrative experiment…and a way to try something new within a well worn genre…Old Wounds succeeded at piquing my interest…and left me thinking back on what it had done. That’s a successful experiment in my book.
Scare Value
Consider Old Wounds an experimental film. It doesn’t present itself as one. In fact, it doesn’t present itself as anything other than a travel log for a couple returning to one’s childhood home. You aren’t sure what the danger is…or if there even is danger out there. That gives way to a character piece with seemingly just as little direction. There’s a method to all this, of course. One that isn’t revealed until the final moments of the story. And makes you want to go back and watch it all over again.
