Mercy (2015)

Good idea lost in the noise

A waste of 90 minutes of my life

This movie was so-so. It had it's moments, but wasn't the greatest.

Through painfully honest and emotional moments, the movie becomes irresistibly relatable

Admittedly I didn't have high hopes for liking "Mercy", and this was based on a couple of indicators. The plot is adapted from a largely unknown short story by Stephen King (= the author is overrated and most of his short stories are unimpressive) and the lead character is a 10-year-old kid whose first line in the film is: "my grandmother has always been my best friend." But it turned out to be better than I expected, particularly thanks to a series of weird and inexplicable story aspects and a surprisingly sinister atmosphere throughout. Single mom Rebecca (beautiful Frances O'Conner of "The Missing") is forced to move back to her remote parental house, along with her two teenage sons, because her mother requires constant care during her recovery of a stroke. There always circulated strange and morbid stories about grandma Mercy. When she was a beautiful 20-year-old woman, she couldn't get children and this nearly drove her insane. Suddenly one day, after mysteriously having vanished over the hills, she's expecting triplets! Shortly after the babies were born her husband died, supposedly in a freak accident where he split his own head in two with an axe (!) and two of her three children are mentally unstable. Now, at the end of her life, grandma Mercy still seems to be possessed with an evil entity. Is this "Hastur", who she keeps driveling about, the demon who impregnated her and what impact does the bloodline have on her grandson George? It's safe to state that "Mercy" is better and more effective in raising eerie topics than at answering vital plot questions and ensuring continuity. The entire climax is a mess and I, for one, didn't really understood what was going on. Some things are spooky but don't make the slightest bit of sense, like George talking to a cute but dead girl from his neighborhood or Dylan McDermott patiently waiting for something to happen. Shirley Knight, as grandma Mercy, is more dead than alive for most of the film's running time, so it would have been so much easier if the family opted for euthanasia.

I have read almost all Stephen King's and loved it I have read almost all H.P Lovecraft and was creepy and awesome Well, I wasn't surprise that Hastur appears as 'the one who can calm the evil down' (that's why aunt Flo told George to name him in the first place) in "Gramma", put I always remember that Hastur was actually a benign god for shepherds according to Ambrose Bierce's short story (from which Lovecraft took the character for his Chtulu's Mythos, where we never know if it is an entity or a place). So, here I am reading "Gramma" and loved it because it was creepy and scary as hell: George's brother broke a leg, mom get him to hospital and George spend the night alone with her 'Gramma' who dies in the course of the night after a series of wicked events. With an unpredictable end. The story was an episode in The Twilight Zone (one of my favorite series) and I was happy to see that it was made a feature film! Wrong: we have a girl ghost that wasn't in the story, added "A la Victor Pascow", Aunt Flo turns to be aunt Jenny (why changed the name??)... and others stuff and elements that make the story go away from the source material. At the end of the movie, the wolf of the mountain was the real demon, who all what he want is that... take your own assumptions of the matter. I have take mines and that not save the movie to my eyes. The acting was good and loved Chandler Riggs did it good as George. Shirley Knight is awesome as always. Joel Courtney was great too. Cinematography was fine, and some effects are effective. But no. The script was not good, and maybe have the primary elements that "Gramma" have, but doesn't develop the same atmosphere. 6/10 and is because of the good actors did a good job with what they have. Watch it at your own risk.

This is really not a review of the movie as I haven't seen it yet, but I soon will. This is in regards to someones review of Chandler Riggs' acting. How many young actors do you think are perfect from the get go? A lot of times actors have to do what the producer wants. I have watched The Walking Dead over and over, I'm now on my tenth go around. I think Chandler did a very good job of portraying a perfect brat. Are we to say we don't like his acting because we didn't like the way he behaved ? NO, for making the audience hate an actor is actually very good acting. I don't know what your problem is ,but that's your opinion and you're entitled.

I went into this with a great deal of trepidation, as I do every Stephen King adaptation, only to find it wasn't one of the better ones. I was actually quite excited when I found out the short story "Gramma" was being made into a film as it is one of my favourites and genuinely creepy. I now think it should have been left well alone. The acting was okay in the main but I think it fell down when it was stretched into movie length. It definitely, for me, lacked the suspense and atmosphere of the original story. Even watching as someone who had never read the story, I wouldn't have found it scary or tense at all. As I said, the acting was okay, but the kid from The Walking Dead (sorry, his name escapes me) seemed a bit flat considering all that was happening and I was very disappointed in Dylan McDermott, who seemed to be there to get through filming and pick up his paycheck. There is a certain character who appears at the end who is quite honestly laughable (I think you'll know who I mean if you get there). Now for the positives..ehm...there was a cute dog and...the basic concept was a bit different. I hate leaving this review as I am a huge fan of King's books and there have been some great adaptations like Christine, Carrie, Shawshank, Cujo, The Green Mile and The Mist etc. Unfortunately, this is more along the lines of The Tommyknockers or Needful Things. I really think King should just hand his work over to Frank Darabont and step back so we can enjoy watching his wonderful characters come truly to life on the big screen.