Grimcutty (dir. John Ross) is a movie following a teen girl and her younger sibling’s attempt to stop a terrifying meme that’s been spread throughout their neighbourhood. At least, that’s how it’s described in its own synopsis. I had no idea the existence of the movie until it showed up in Disney+’s “new” section, and watched it out of curiosity about how exactly they were defining “meme” given the word’s cultural understanding as being something that imparts at least some degree of humour.
My apprehension towards believing the synopsis when it claimed the movie revolves around a meme turned out to be the correct approach as if anything the Grimcutty is more like chainmail, a scary story being passed on around exaggeratedly paranoid parents overly concerned about the dangers of the internet, to the point that even when it becomes clear this Grimcutty is a real thing to be feared (which is made known by the opening sequence) I’m still on the side of the teenagers scandalised by the confiscation of their technologies because the parents project so much paranoia the instant they hear the Grimcutty rumour it’s ridiculous.
The movie gives very little breathing room towards contextualising the characters or the setting before jumping in to the horror which makes it very hard to care about any one of them. The word “horror” I only use for lack of better succinct word as Grimcutty is more focused on jumpscares. The movie has a very on-the-nose discussion going on about the internet and mental health which is a valid discussion to have but when within the contexts of the movie none of this is presented to us in a strong statement, rather just having parents looking at headlines about it without showing how characters have been affected by their use of the internet before that point it just falls flat. There is no horror to be seen in the internet’s effect on people as they give no breathing room to show it, so the titular Grimcutty becomes impactless. Bracing for a jumpscare that is very overtly coming is not the same as feeling actual tension.
Grimcutty’s design is caricatured and uninspired, too. Unnaturally tall, black suit, pale skin, wide smile, big hands. I haven’t seen The Babadook (2014) but through memes – actual memes, not what Grimcutty has going on – I know exactly where I’ve seen that description before. I’m sure The Babadook does it better, too, as Grimcutty himself is very shiny CGI that sticks out like a bald head on a sunny day. His fakeness distracts from the film such that even in the midst of being jumpscared I can’t help but laugh at how ridiculous he is. They rely far too much on trying to give him a “scary” appearance over actually having anything he do be scary. He’s standing in shadow in a doorway only to disappear seconds after? Oh no. I’m horrified. In addition to his appearance, Grimcutty’s name leaves much to be desired, too. “Grim” and “cut” in the same name is just trying too hard.
Given the internet’s penchant for engaging in careless challenges which can and have caused harm, along with its capacity to spread paranoia over the slightest things, the foundations of Grimcutty had the potential to be good. Perhaps if we’d been given more time with protagonist Asha (Sara Wolfkind) before the point where the film began, to get a better grasp with who she is as a person and how technology has shaped that, there could have been an audience connection to work with to make the film be engaging. As it stands we are thrust into the story far too fast and there is no space to grab bearings or get a nuanced understanding about why we should find this story important. It truly is a shame given Wolfkind has acting talent as shown by her attempts to make a lackluster script entertaining.
One of these days there’ll be a good horror movie inspired by internet. Today is not that day.
1/10