Mercy (2015)

I don't have all the words right now but this film is a work of art.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Actress is magnificent and exudes a hypnotic screen presence in this affecting drama.

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

The film opens with a Mr. Ree answer: Frank with an axe in the Living Room...West Virginia 1967. The film moves to the present and we quickly know what happened in the opening scene. Grandma Mercy (Shirley Knight) has taken a shine to her grandson George (Chandler Riggs). We discover grandma had triplets and is somehow connected to old world paganism while something supernatural is going on. We get sparse hints until about 40 minutes into the film when we get the long version of the tale.Grandma is suffering from Alzheimer, although she responds best to George who has an invisible friend...and how long was that drawn circle in the basement there before anyone noticed...and were the candles always lit? We do get to see the whatever late in the film and I thought the over priced black velvet painting was better.Guide: No swearing, sex, or nudity. On a side note, there were no opening FBI copyright warnings. The film starts off playing on its own like a cheap pirate DVD.

There are some really talented actors in this movie. It's a shame to see them waste their time (although there's no sign of any effort) on this. It's not that it had no potential. Based on a Stephen King story, it shares a lot of basic elements with The Shining. Gifted boy with imaginary friend from a family that are sensitive to other-worldly/paranormal things in peril. Senility replaces alcoholism as the boogey-man in the subtext, but there are a lot of thematic and plot similarities.The trouble is that this movie was so poorly done. The writing wasn't great, the direction/editing is awful. Quite often it seems more like people doing a blocking rehearsal than an actual take. It's impossible to feel involved in what's going on. Some of the dialogue is so bad that it's easy to understand why everyone seems non-committal - there is no way to deliver those lines well.The kid playing the lead makes an honest effort, and this film shouldn't be held against him, but it's a black mark on the filmography of everyone else involved.

I usually write a synopsis in the beginning of any review to give a glimpse of the plot to the readers. Unfortunately I will not write the summary of this movie simply because I did not understand it, what is frustrating for an horror movie.The screenplay is a mess and hard to understand the plot. The atmosphere is creepy, but after spending 79 minutes running time, I did not understand what happened. In the end, is grandma good or evil? Who is Hastur? Is Jim Swann George's father? Why did he threaten the boy with a gun? Sorry but this movie is a creepy garbage. Chandler Riggs should have stayed in "The Walking Dead" only. My vote is one (awfull).Title (Brazil): "Mercy"

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.