Grace

31 Horror Movies I Own #19: Grace

One of the most uncomfortable tales of terror I’ve ever seen on film, I fully recognize that Grace is not for everyone. Anyone who is a mom, for example, probably shouldn’t EVER see this.

Jordan Ladd plays Madeline Matheson, 8-months pregnant with an over-bearing mother-in-law who insists her decision to use a midwife instead of the hospital is a huge mistake. On the way home one night, Madeline and her husband are in a car accident that takes his life and the life of their unborn child, Grace…

…or maybe not. Initially appearing to be stillborn, Madeline soon finds out that Grace has “special needs”—including things like a bug trap to keep flies from nesting on her undead flesh, and lots and lots of protein in the form of human flesh and blood.

Desperate to keep her baby alive and well-fed, Madeline does whatever it takes to protect Grace, ignoring the fact that something is just NOT RIGHT.

At its heart, Grace is a multi-layered story of squirm-inducing obsession, with the MIL (Gabrielle Rose) injecting her own special brand of scariness into the story: a singular-minded focus on replacing her dead son with her grandchild.

The blood and gore in this isn’t immediate—it builds up over time to a skull-shattering masterpiece. And one of the things I appreciate most was the filmmaker’s refusal to go for camp (a la “It’s Alive”), using a realistic-looking baby stand-in (albeit at times, with a heavy zombie-esque appearance), instead of a cheap-looking puppet.

I was, and still am, very impressed with Director Paul Solet’s first effort—and I can’t wait to see what he does next.