Grace: Horror’s State of the Union is One of Hope and Change

Horror is sickly, it has a bad case of the sequels and remakes, probably not fatal but it does need to start taking better care of itself. To hear people on the internet describe this you would think the old girl is dead. Considering this weekend’s Film Festival double feature of Pontypool and Grace along with last year’s sublimely excellent Let the Right One In, I have to ask: What movies are these guys watching?

The good stuff is out there, there may not be commercials for it in between American Idol re-runs, but it’s out there all the same. Hollywood’s recent remake and sequel fetish really has no bearing on the “hardcore horror fan”; does anyone think we were the intended audience of the PG-13 Prom Night? No, most horror fans don’t fit into the 13-19 year old demographic the studios are going for with these films.

Writer/Director Paul Solet’s Grace is a movie for us– and it is spectacular.

A movie about a woman who carries her dead baby to term with horrific results, Grace is a body horror film like no other. To talk about the plot anymore would spoil it. The narrative is lean but the shocks and disturbing images are plentiful.

Solet builds tension slowly, letting our own thoughts about what “might happen” run wild for much of the film, before trumping whatever we could have thought-up in the climactic moments.

Solet was present at the screening and said it best when he said: “I’m such a fan of the genre that it’s getting harder and harder to ‘get to me’, so I just tried to make something that would affect me.”

As one of the best horror films in years I hope Grace finds its audience whenever it gets a release. I urge all readers to put it high on their “Must see list.”