They Live in the Grey

I came into this expecting a horror based on the synopsis but all I got was a sad film of a woman dealing with grief while occasionally a glass moves.

Boring, trite and (frankly) depressing this was not what I expected or wanted and, while Michelle Krusiec's acting was great, it couldn't carry this film for me.

I actually really liked this movie, but the pacing is agonizingly slow at times. The main character is someone who has experienced the loss of her child and blames herself for it, and as a result, she pushes everyone away. Unfortunately, she also pushes the audience away. It's like you have to drag the story out of her. This could be the fault of the way this was directed, written, the lead actor's choices, or the editing of the final product, or some combination of them - I'm honestly not sure, but it happened over and over again. During one of the last scenes (don't worry, no spoilers), the lead literally has a phone to her mouth and almost seems to refuse to deliver the next line, drawing it out way, way, WAY too long. There's an art to dramatic pauses. This movie doesn't get it right. But I give it a 6/10 for premise, atmosphere, and an interesting take on the whole "person who sees dead people" / medium idea. I would love to see this recut. It could be a really decent movie.

This could have been excellent. Is it familiar and derivative? Yes, but original enough to be compelling. Unfortunately, it could have really used a better editor - a 2 plus hour runtime makes it drag. It suffers from sluggish pacing and a trim of at least 20 unnecessary minutes would have helped that. Then there's the random "oh look, we're artists" oddball camera angles at inopportune times that scream "amateurs" instead of artists. Still watchable, but in more capable hands it could have been really memorable.

Heavily flawed movie. But, some of the ideas and scenes stood out enough to make me want to see this movie again one day. Just look past things like the husband's partner looking more like a homless Charles Manson than a police officer. And, I'd actually believe in ghosts before I'd believe that a civil servant CPS worker can be fired on the spot without any warning. But with elements of 6th Sense and some of the life after death and ghost scenes, it's worth watching.

Wasn't expecting much from this, but it was quite good, the acting wasn't that good, but the atmosphere is there and it makes up for it. 6/10, not a great movie but not a bad one either.