Greta (2019) Review

Greta was directed by Neil Jordan (who also directed Byzantium, In Dreams, Interview With The Vampire and The Company Of Wolves) and stars Chloë Grace Moretz (from Suspiria, Carrie, Let Me In, Hallowed Ground, Room 6), Maika Monroe (from Tau, It Follows) and Zawe Ashton (from Velvet Buzzsaw). It’s about a girl who does the right thing, just for the wrong woman.

Everyone needs a friend

Greta is a psychological thriller about a girl in NYC who falls into the trap of a dangerous stalker. Stalker movies usually share a lot of similar plot points, and Greta is no different, but this particular stalker movie is done very well.

What makes Greta a unique stalker movie (the stalker is a well-mannered older woman) is also what makes it a tad unrealistic and frustrating. Frances, our victim, seemed incapable of even the most basic means of self defense. I mean, a slight shove would have sent Greta rolling around with a broken hip. But of course, that wouldn’t have made for a very exciting movie.

Instead, Greta is very cunning and dangerous woman seemingly capable of anything. Think Fatal Attraction, just with a mother/daughter complex instead of a romantic obsession. Greta is essentially a very lonely, and very mentally disturbed, woman living alone in the big city. The movie captures loneliness so well, you find yourself empathizing with her more than you’d like. It also captures the hopelessness of the big city, Frances is surrounded by people and police, yet nobody can really help her.

Two standouts of Greta have to be the incredible camera work and the soundtrack. The soundtrack does not fit the intensity of many of the scenes whatsoever, which seems to make them even more intense by contrast.

These kinds of movies, along with home invasion movies, always scare me the most since they can actually happen, as opposed to dead chicks crawling out of TVs or Zombeavers ruining vacations. Crazy is everywhere, you just have to hope you never become the obsession of the wrong person.

Moral to the story is don’t go out of your way to help anybody. Also, don’t be afraid to push an old lady if she gets out of line.