Connect with us

Movies

Shudder’s ‘They Live in the Grey’ Review – A Dreary and Ghostly Exploration of Unrelenting Grief

Published

on

Shudder’s ‘They Live in the Grey’ Review – A Dreary and Ghostly Exploration of Unrelenting Grief

Social worker Claire (Michelle Krusiec) takes child abuse cases to heart more than most lately, as she is still reeling from the loss of her child. Her latest assignment seems like an open-and-shut situation of an abusive dad. But Claire’s ability to see ghosts makes her uniquely suited to help a family tormented by a malevolent force. They Live in the Grey sets up a conventional haunted house scenario but instead revels languidly in grief, presenting a somber feature without many chills.

Written and directed by Burlee and Abel Vang (Bedeviled), They Live in the Grey draws out revealing the whole truth of what happened to Claire’s child and why she became estranged from her husband (Ken Kirby). With a dreary color palette and equally dreary mood, it becomes an immersive voyage through depression as Claire’s emotions consistently land her in trouble at work, her emotional walls widen the divide in her marriage, and restless spirits inundate her at night.

Michelle Krusiec as Claire Yang – They Live in the Grey – Photo Credit: Shudder

The Vang brothers capture the hallmarks of depression; Claire’s general apathy, guilt, hopelessness, and pervasive grief have a death grip on the narrative. So much so that it chokes out the central case involving battered girl Sophie (Don’t Breathe 2’s Madelyn Grace), frazzled mom Audrey (Ellen Wroe), and a workaholic dad (J.R. Cacia). It gives enough to set up the supernatural activity plaguing the home, sparking Claire to action as she seeks to clear the parents’ name of abuse and protect Sophie. Once established, though, Sophie gets put on the backburner in favor of Claire’s suffocating anguish.

Without much in the way of scares, save for a few telegraphed ghost attacks, They Live in the Grey doesn’t offer a reprieve from the depressive tone. There’s no levity or escape from Claire’s suffering. Claire’s guilt is all-consuming, and the sole spark of life comes from Kirby as the desperate husband attempting to reconnect and revive his marriage. Krusiec nails every bit of the emotional anguish, but her character arc reads more like a straight line.

– They Live in the Grey – Photo Credit: Shudder

There’s also not much meat on this barebones story. While it is effectively tragic, the pacing sags as it spends long stretches in quiet solitude with Claire’s grief. It’s given so much prominence that the supernatural elements feel superfluous and underdeveloped. So much so that the climax rushes into its reveals and renders its impact inert, even as it ramps up the energy and horror. It doesn’t help that we never get a full scope of anything beyond Claire’s depression; nothing is as complex as Claire’s emotional state. Not Sophie’s family, not Claire’s job and disappointed boss, and certainly not the ghosts.

The title reads like an intriguing horror movie but ultimately serves as a grief metaphor, a perfect summation of the film. The supernatural causes and drives Claire forward, but it still pales in comparison to her unrelenting depressive state. Krusiec and Kirby manage to provide rooting interest with their characters’ relationship, but beyond that, the film’s a listless, often indifferent drift through melancholy.

They Live in the Grey premieres on Shudder on February 17, 2022.

Horror journalist, RT Top Critic, and Critics Choice Association member. Co-Host of the Bloody Disgusting Podcast. Has appeared on PBS series' Monstrum, served on the SXSW Midnighter shorts jury, and moderated horror panels for WonderCon and SeriesFest.

Movies

‘Final Destination: Bloodlines’ Adds “Chucky” Actor Teo Briones and More to Lead Cast

Published

on

Chucky Actor Teo Briones
Pictured: Teo Briones in "Chucky" Season Two

The Final Destination franchise is returning to life with Final Destination: Bloodlines. With filming now underway, THR reports that three actors have joined the lead cast, including “Chucky” actor Teo Briones.

Brec Bassinger (“Stargirl”) and Kaitlyn Santa Juana (The Friendship Game) join Teo Briones, who played Junior Wheeler in season two of “Chucky,” as the leads in the sixth installment of the horror franchise.

Zach Lipovsky and Adam B. Stein (Freaks) are directing the fresh installment that also includes Richard Harmon (“The 100”, Grave Encounters 2), Anna Lore, Owen Patrick Joyner, Max Lloyd-Jones (The Book Of Boba Fett), Rya Kihlstedt (Obi Wan Kenobi), and Tinpo Lee (The Manor) among the cast.

Production is now underway in Vancouver.

What can we expect from the upcoming Final Destination 6? Speaking with Collider, franchise creator Jeffrey Reddick offered up an intriguing (and mysterious) tease last year.

“This film dives into the film in such a unique way that it attacks it from a different angle so you don’t feel like, ‘Oh, there’s an amazing setup and then there’s gonna be one wrinkle that can potentially save you all that you have to kind of make a moral choice about or do to solve it.’ There’s an expansion of the universe that – I’m being so careful,” Reddick teased.

Reddick continued, “It kind of unearths a whole deep layer to the story that kind of, yes, makes it really, really interesting.”

Final Destination: Bloodlines is written by Lori Evans Taylor (“Wicked Wicked Games”) and Guy Busick (Scream), with Jon Watts (Spider-Man: No Way Home) producing.

Producers on the new movie for New Line Cinema also include Dianne McGunigle (Cop Car) as well as Final Destination producers Craig Perry and Sheila Hanahan Taylor.

This will be the sixth installment in the hit franchise, and the first in over ten years. Each film centers on “Death” hunting down young friends who survive a mass casualty event.

The latest entry is expected in 2025, coinciding with the original film’s 25th anniversary.

 

Continue Reading