PopHorror Let's Get Scared
Greta (2018), directed by Neil Jordan (The Crying Game 1992), centers around a young girl, Frances (Chloë Grace Moretz: Carrie 2013), who meets and befriends a lonely widow named Greta (Isabella Huppert: Elle 2016). However, unbeknownst to Frances, Greta is harboring a dark agenda. Once Frances starts to see signs that the older woman isn’t exactly who she says she is, she refuses to take “go away!” for an answer. Check out my thoughts on this stalker thriller below!
To start, I want to talk about the acting in this film. Isabelle Huppert’s performance as the titular antagonist really sold the film for me. She starts off as a seemingly lonely widow who just needs a friend to converse with. During a scene when we finally see Greta’s true side, I was truly shocked by Huppert’s performance. It was impressive to see the actress’ range.
Chloë Grace Moretz is wonderful as well. She always brings an innocent quality to her roles, and it definitely worked in her favor for this film. I genuinely cared about her character, Frances. Caring about her well-being brought real suspense for me. I loved the set design. The older woman’s home and neighborhood were quite quaint and beautiful. One of my favorite things about this film was the ending. I won’t spoil anything, but I was very satisfied with how it ended.
Now, it’s time to talk about what didn’t work for this film. The loud jump-scares didn’t mesh with the film’s tone at all. They were honestly just distracting. Instead of a natural build-up of suspense, we’re forced to deal with cheap scare gimmicks. The filmmakers tried to give it that ONE horror element and failed.
When it comes to the film’s pace, it was very sporadic. Near the end of the film, it seems to really drag on. There was a little sub-plot that really led to nowhere. The pace would’ve benefited if that sub-plot wasn’t in the final cut at all. I understand the need for filler in most films, but Greta didn’t need that filler.
Overall Thoughts:
I definitely found more things I loved about this film than I hated. It wasn’t the perfect stalker flick I had hoped for, but it was still entertaining. I’ll be adding it to my film collection for sure!
