Grace (2009)
Posted: Sun Sep 27, 2009 1:38 amSo anyone who is into the horror genre has probably heard all the hype for this movie. Praises were all over every horror site known to man. There were plenty of stories about people fainting and puking at screenings. It finally hit DVD this past Tuesday and Netflix kindly delivered it to my house today. Basically its about a lady who delivers a stillborn child to term only to find that its alive and well, only it can only get nourishment from human blood. Ok, sounds interesting enough.
But the movie isn't all too great. The director actually shows a lot of promise and the suspense is very good in some scenes. The acting is great across the board. The problem is that the script isn't very good. In fact, its downright stupid in a lot of places. And it has one of the dumbest endings I've ever seen.
So why all the glowing reviews? The hype would suggest an elegantly made gem along the lines of Let the Right One In, but its just another way overhyped horror movie. I'm tired of hearing about this film or that film being a "new horror masterpiece" and getting mediocrity (and sometimes pure garbage) instead (Hatchet, Saw, Hostel, Martyrs, Inside, etc etc). Things must be really bad in the horror genre if all a movie has to do to get praise is not be a remake or sequel. How do movies like this get SHOWERED with praise and publicity while truly fantastic works like Chan Wook Park's Thirst fly under the radar? (others I really liked from this year and got criminally overlooked were the horror/western the Burrowers and the oppressive Eden Lake, which is not for the faint of heart... like, at all.). Sure, Grace isn't a terribly made film, there are sparks of originality, some great acting and even some well done suspense... but it takes more than that to get a glowing review from me and it certainly doesn't excuse bad writing.
That said, the director shows a lot of promise, restraint, and class in his style and I look forward to seeing what he does next because the talent is there (in a pretty big way, actually). He's a name to watch for for sure. I also think its good enough to have at least gotten a small theatrical release instead of going straight to DVD. For some reason I could actually see this making some bank at the box office.
But anyway... don't believe the hype for this one. I don't even know if I'm looking forward to seeing Trick r Treat and Paranormal Activity (in fact, I'm kind of dreading it now) anymore after seeing how badly horror fans hype movies these days.
But the movie isn't all too great. The director actually shows a lot of promise and the suspense is very good in some scenes. The acting is great across the board. The problem is that the script isn't very good. In fact, its downright stupid in a lot of places. And it has one of the dumbest endings I've ever seen.
So why all the glowing reviews? The hype would suggest an elegantly made gem along the lines of Let the Right One In, but its just another way overhyped horror movie. I'm tired of hearing about this film or that film being a "new horror masterpiece" and getting mediocrity (and sometimes pure garbage) instead (Hatchet, Saw, Hostel, Martyrs, Inside, etc etc). Things must be really bad in the horror genre if all a movie has to do to get praise is not be a remake or sequel. How do movies like this get SHOWERED with praise and publicity while truly fantastic works like Chan Wook Park's Thirst fly under the radar? (others I really liked from this year and got criminally overlooked were the horror/western the Burrowers and the oppressive Eden Lake, which is not for the faint of heart... like, at all.). Sure, Grace isn't a terribly made film, there are sparks of originality, some great acting and even some well done suspense... but it takes more than that to get a glowing review from me and it certainly doesn't excuse bad writing.
That said, the director shows a lot of promise, restraint, and class in his style and I look forward to seeing what he does next because the talent is there (in a pretty big way, actually). He's a name to watch for for sure. I also think its good enough to have at least gotten a small theatrical release instead of going straight to DVD. For some reason I could actually see this making some bank at the box office.
But anyway... don't believe the hype for this one. I don't even know if I'm looking forward to seeing Trick r Treat and Paranormal Activity (in fact, I'm kind of dreading it now) anymore after seeing how badly horror fans hype movies these days.
