THEY LIVE IN THE GREY (2022)

Studio:     Shudder
Director:    The Vang Brothers
Writer:     The Vang Brothers
Producer:  Carr Lee, Stephen Stanley, Burlee & Abel Vang
Stars:     Michelle Krusiec, Ken Kirby, Madelyn Grace, Mercedes Manning, J.R. Cacia, Willie S. Hosea, Audrey Moore, Jaden Tran, Ellen Wroe

Review Score:

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Summary:

A grieving social worker must confront her own ghosts when she takes the case of a family haunted by a supernatural entity.

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Synopsis:     Show/Hide Spoilers

Suicidal social worker Claire Yang struggles with ongoing trauma stemming from the tragic death of her young son Lucas, which also led to the end of her marriage to Fresno police officer Peter. Sensitive to supernatural spirits, Claire additionally suffers from intermittent visions of violent ghosts, causing her to sleep in her closet for her safety and sanity.

Claire’s boss at Child Protective Services, Lloyd, assigns Claire to investigate the suspected abuse of a young girl named Sophie Lang. While interviewing Sophie and her parents, Giles and Audrey, Claire observes paranormal activity in the family’s home. After seeing a woman’s ghost during one of her sudden trances, Claire concludes a supernatural entity is responsible for Sophie’s injuries, but is unsure how to handle the case since Lloyd and Sophie’s school would not believe the truth.

The ghostly woman seemingly slaps Sophie, locks her in her closet, and trashes her room. In a subsequent interview with the girl, Sophie tells Claire that her father Giles had an affair while Audrey was pregnant with her. Lloyd continues pressuring Claire to close the seemingly straightforward case.

During a family dinner, the ghost contorts Audrey’s hand and forces it down on a knife blade. While Giles insists on taking his wife to the hospital, Audrey only questions him about his affair from several years earlier.

With the paranormal activity growing more violent, Audrey asks Claire if she could use her ability to communicate with the ghost to get it to leave. Claire ends up choked unconscious when she experiences a vision in the family’s bathroom of a woman killing her husband with a sewing needle and then slashing her wrists in grief upon seeing their dead son on the floor.

When she wakes in the hospital, Claire learns her ex-husband Peter sat with her for an entire day. Ada, an elderly woman later revealed to be another ghost, talks to Claire about unfairly blaming yourself for another person’s death and the need to heal broken relationships. Claire has other ghostly encounters while in the hospital, including one with the woman grieving for her dead son in the morgue.

Claire confronts her boss upon learning he closed the Lang case while she was in the hospital, resulting in CPS planning to take Sophie away from her parents. Lloyd fires Claire.

Claire visits her son’s ghost in the field where he was found after being killed by a hit-and-run driver. The experience compels Claire to give up her prescription meds, which she blames for making her miss a scheduled pickup that forced Lucas to walk home from school when he was killed. Claire also moves out of the closet and back into her bed.

As the final step in dealing with her grief and finally moving forward, Claire calls Peter to say she wants to start over. Peter agrees to renew their relationship.

The woman’s ghost attacks Claire in her home. A flashback shows Claire that the distraught woman killed her husband and then herself after discovering her husband murdered their son. Another flashback shows that Audrey had been abusing Sophie all along, and the ghost was merely trying to protect the girl.

Claire rushes to the Lang family’s house with the woman’s ghost guiding her. Claire finds Audrey holding Giles at gunpoint while Sophie cowers in fear. As Giles pleads that Audrey needs mental help, Audrey expresses long-held resentment over his affair, which she blames for destroying her life. Audrey admits she abuses Sophie, and she threatens to shoot their daughter in order to take away what Giles loves most.

Claire physically intervenes, inadvertently causing Audrey to kill Giles instead of Audrey. Claire and Audrey wrestle over the gun as Audrey continues firing wildly. Audrey ends up falling down the stairs.

Claire calls 911. Peter and his police officer partner Beckett respond to the call.

Claire tries to sneak out of the house with Sophie, but Audrey suddenly stabs her. With Audrey continuing to attack, Claire asks the ghost for help. The ghost contorts Audrey’s limbs in different directions until she drops dead. Peter and Beckett arrive to rescue Claire and Sophie.

In the aftermath, Claire finally tells Peter about her unusual ability and how the trauma it fostered led to her pushing him away. Claire takes up specialized work to help troubled families solve their paranormal problems.

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Review:

In fairness to “They Live in the Grey,” a competently crafted yet lengthy and languid slow-burn chiller, I ought to preface this review with a disclaimer. Specifically, I should clarify that I’ve pretty much had it up to here with this particular subgenre, and that’s not a fault of the film per se.

After 100+ years of cinema, horror fans have seemingly seen every possible spin on Dracula, masked maniacs murdering teenagers, resurrections gone wrong, and more. Unless someone has a truly 21st-century take on a done-to-death concept, then we don’t need to see another post-apocalyptic zombie outbreak, or take another trip through an abandoned asylum in a “found footage” format. Put these premises out to pasture until a unique twist comes along.

“Adult protects child from evil ghost” can be added to that list of overdone ideas overdue for a refresh. I don’t care if it features Naomi Watts, Keri Russell, or some similar actress who emotes worry well enough to slot into the stereotyped starring role. I’ve been through so many movies like “Lights Out” (review here) and “Come Play” (review here) that I just don’t want to watch another single mother, social worker, or sibling save a vulnerable kid from a supernatural entity. And since “They Live in the Grey” follows an “I see dead people” woman who helps a troubled family with their paranormal problem, that plot puts the film’s first foot in the grave as far as my interest goes.

Another problem that’s unavoidably intrinsic to this movie’s design is that its content is oppressively dour, then that bleakness gets bloated by a taxing two-hour runtime. The maudlin characters do indeed live in the grey. And that grey they live in is a shade so dark, it might as well be pitch black.

“They Live in the Grey” starts with a suicide, or an attempt at one anyway. Claire simply hasn’t been the same since the tragic death of her young son Lucas. Although she actually takes them to quell her unwanted ability to see violent visions of ghosts, Claire’s meds aren’t really working either.

After the noose snaps instead of strangling her like she wanted, Claire settles for an emotional breakdown while crumpled on the floor. There will be time for additional breakdowns later on. For now, Claire has to pull herself together for a two-person pity party with her ex-husband Peter to mark what would have been their son’s tenth birthday, if only his death that she blames herself for hadn’t torn their trio apart.

Claire doesn’t come close to cornering the market on how much despair “They Live in the Grey” has to go around. Next comes a courtroom scene where a weeping woman learns her child is being taken away from her. As a rep for Child Protective Services, Claire questions the judge’s ruling, leading to a subsequent dressing-down from a boss unimpressed with Claire’s outburst. Claire then follows up with a visit to her son’s grave, because apparently the day hasn’t already been traumatic enough for her.

As you can see from the summary so far, “They Live in the Grey” swims in dreariness like a ship sunk at sea. We haven’t even finished the first act, yet we’ve already been dunked deep in the devastation of broken marriages, broken families, child abuse, child death, workplace problems, drug addiction, untreated depression, long-term grief, and the desire to kill one’s self. That’s a lot for any viewer to process prior to moving on to Claire’s main case where she finally meets parents suspected of beating their daughter Sophie, who may actually be the victim of a malevolent spirit.

I would certainly never stipulate that every movie with a thriller theme has to have the intensity of “Die Hard” or the buoyancy of “Shaun of the Dead.” In the right context, under appropriate circumstances, I do appreciate grim stories with challenging commentary on potentially triggering topics.

But because “They Live in the Grey” goes so hard on melodramatic misery instead of on suspenseful scares, as a critic, I don’t see how I can recommend the movie as an escapist experience in frightful fantasy. “They Live in the Grey” will bring any evening set with expectations for eerie entertainment to a screeching halt faster than you can ask, “Why am I subjecting myself to this?”

I also have to add that you feel every single second of the 123-minute duration, which is at least a half-hour above an average, acceptable length when treading in this territory. The film features so many stretches of silence or drawn-out moments meant to extend mood that I would have given my kingdom for a feature to bump up the playback speed just so I could get on with excessive scenes of ugly crying, vacant gazes, and frowning expressions on the brink of one more emotional meltdown.

Writing/directing duo The Vang Brothers, Burlee and Abel, make the material as cinematic as any adept filmmaker possibly could. A muted lighting scheme keeps colors consistent without applying too heavy of an artificially tinted patina. Several setups add very little to the narrative, such as skyline scenery passing in a rearview mirror. Otherwise, wide shots are populated so locations look like lived-in environments rather than cramped, phony sets. The unobtrusive camera smarty stays back to capture intimate interactions from reasonable distances, allowing actors to sink into their scenes so they read as real.

By treating their project like an Oscar bait drama, The Vang Brothers produce a terrific technical show reel for themselves as well as for their performers. The downside to this approach of lingering on pained faces is that the film under-delivers on haunting horror. Some music stings accentuate few and far-between pops from Claire’s gruesome ghost encounters, although most of the audioscape consists of sad violin strains and single piano notes held for long beats.

In this case, the low review score shouldn’t be reflective of the film’s high production quality. Rather, it’s intended to indicate that “They Live in the Grey” is merely a tough sell with very narrow audience appeal.

Review Score: 45

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