Hey gang, Valkor here. I’ve let it be known amongst my peoples, that I am not a fan of AirBNB; even though they’ve had positive experiences, I’m not one for staying in someone else’s home and being mindful of their things. I’m a little spoiled for hotels in that regard and I think I’m set in my ways. So how does that relate to the next film up on deck? Well in “At Granny’s House”, we deal with a similar website, however, patrons check in… but they don’t check out… and by the end of it all, none of it makes one lick of sense. Read on! Oh, and spoilers are all over this one!
In “At Granny’s House”, elderly widow and mother Marion (Glenda Morgan Brown), is being forced by her son to have a caretaker around the house, given that she’s had an accident or two and also had instances where she has mixed her meds. Enter Rebecca (Rachel Alig – Bikini Spring Break, Ghostline), who from her eclectic resume, has taken on many jobs and can't seem to stay in one spot, yet this doesn’t seem to raise any eyebrows and she’s hired on the spot. In the beginning, things are a bit rough as Rebecca and Marion butt heads at almost every turn but eventually they find their groove; Rebecca gets so comfortable that she is not only brave enough to ask Marion to move to the basement, but to open up the basement bedroom as a place for travelers to stay. It’s all done through a website, which Rebecca handles and the cost is "on the house". But little does Marion know, Rebecca has more nefarious reasons for wanting to do this – she kills just about anyone visiting. And yet it’s never ever explained why. She just does it.
Visitors come and go (die) until Rebecca stumbles across a couple looking to spend a day or two; she almost rejects them but finds some attraction to the husband Ted (Les Mahoney). Once the couple has settled in, Rebecca puts it in Ted’s head that they can get busy, but he needs to do something about his wife. So he kills her, the two begin their sexual adventures and the killing spree of popping off passersby begin again, which now include Ted - the dude fell all in that easily. Mind you, all of this is happening right under Marion’s nose, who appears to be totally unaware until…
A private detective investigating the disappearance of Ted and his wife tracks down their last whereabouts at Marion’s home. When he calls, Marion tries to blow him off, but he winds up at her home and discovers Ted in the basement but no wife. Things get heated, a scuffle ensues and the Detective winds up dead. And that's when it’s revealed that Marion knew what was happening the whole time. How and when she discovered this I have no clue. Why she simply doesn’t turn anyone in or why she’s OK with the killings, again it’s never explained. But now she's all in!
But to Marion, Ted has become a loose end and needs to be taken care. However Rachel is truly, deeply in love with the guy so killing him is not an option. And what does she do? She drugs him up and locks him in the attic with his tongue cut out. This isn’t really a spoiler since the film opens in the present day showing him in the attic (the tongue part is spoilery tho) while everything leading up to that moment is considered a flashback.
I’m a bit thrown off by the name “At Granny’s House” since Marion isn’t really a granny; I mean if she has grandkids then the film makes no mention of them. Then again this film seemingly skips over a lot of important detail and I’m not really sure why.
The Good:
N/A
The Bad:
“At Granny’s House” isn’t entirely bad, but it makes a lot of bad decisions in terms of the characters actions that’ll leave you scratching your head as to why those choices were made. For starters, the film puts on a creepy air long before anything truly kicks in. Forget the opening sequence where the ladies are playing mahjong, let's jump right to when Rebecca shows up - she’s already unsettling and creepy right out the box for no reason. She then makes herself at home, starts up the web page and begins killing dudes… for no reason. I mean what’s her motivation? Wait, scratch that, I get it, she’s a serial killer, right? But there’s no setup as to “why” she’s doing it – she just does. Next, when does Marion find out about what Rebecca is doing that it gets to the point she just accepts it and helps her to cover it up? When the detective calls her, she should have been totally clueless about what was going on and maybe a bit worried. Then the detective shows up, gets killed and it’s like she’s OK with everything and has been the entire time. Finally Rebecca’s decision to cut off Ted’s tongue and shove him in the attic… I don’t get it. Yea she really did love the guy, but considering Marion wanted him dead and she seems pretty aware of the shit that goes on in her house - even when no one tells her about it, was just a poor decision on her part. She should have just killed him. Finally, the film opens in present day and then flashback to how events lead up to that point. This literally kills any suspense or sense of drama because we know what's going to happen and to whom, it's all about how we get there, but it would have been better to cut the opening altogether. Lastly, what happened to Marion's son? The dude doesn't call or pop in for a visit. Leaving your poor, poor mother at the hands of stra... wait... let me stop...
The Ugly:
They show the inside of Ted’s mouth with his tongue missing.
According to Amazon, At Granny’s House, won’t see a physical release until May but you can get it now on digital through Amazon, iTunes, YouTube etc, The film has a nice setup, but it makes too many obvious bad choices that just leaves one (mainly me) too confused to care. And out of TOV 5 stars, At Granny’s House gets a 2.
