Rating: D
Dir: Adam R. Steigert
Star: Brandyn T. Williams, Michael Sciabarrasi, Aryn Fitzgerald, Jessica Cameron
Especially early, this was an absolute chore to sit through. It only came on my radar because the Tubi description lists two of our favourites, Bill Oberst Jr. and Lynn Lowry in the cast. Technically, true. But both are present at the “may contain traces of peanuts” level. I knew I was doomed when the opening credits listed them both at the back, not even giving them the courtesy of a “with” or an “and”. Maybe they do more in the original, 115-minute cut. The version on Tubi runs a good half-hour less at 84 minutes, and thank fuck for that. I still only made it to the first commercial break, before saving Chris from what could considered spousal abuse, finishing it myself later.
It’s the story of Raphael (Williams), a somewhat obnoxious executive at a firm of architects, who witnesses the Grim Reaper taking the soul of a homeless person. Or rather, A Grim Reaper. For it turns out there are a lot of them, scurrying around the world under the command of Magoo (Sciabarrasi). The bad news is, by witnessing them in action, Raphael has now become one of their number. This was not exactly on his to-do list. Fortunately, he discovers an out, in that there is a way in which he can pass the job on to someone else. He also has to figure out how to stop his niece October (Fitzgerald) from becoming a permanent resident in the land of the dead.
I’ve previously discussed the difficulties of balancing horror with comedy, and how most efforts end up skewing in one or other direction. That’s not an issue here. A Grim Becoming is perfectly balanced – unfortunately, it’s because it is almost equally inept in both genres. The core idea isn’t bad; the issue is the execution. In the hands of a more talented film-maker – say, an Ed Wood or Jess Franco – this would have worked better. Though to be fair, Steigert should not shoulder all the blame. Not when the star of his film is such an absolute black-hole of comedy as Williams. Seriously, once any ounce of humourous potential slides past his event horizon, it vanishes, never to be seen again. It’s genuinely impressive.
The horror elements are no great shakes either, little more than Halloween costume skeleton parts, probably bought from the same store as the Reapers’ plastic-looking scythe. It does improve slightly once Williams stops over-acting towards a comedic goal. Though the rules by which any of this operates, never become more than vague, and there’s not much dramatic tension. For instance, the threat to October is literally hand-waved away after some brief chit-chat with Life (Cameron), and the niece vanishes entirely. Oberst and Lowry do little except demonstrate the gap between professional actors and game amateurs. In a final poor decision, Steigert then adds both mid- and post-credit sequences: does he think this is an MCU entry or something? Helpful tip for next time: it isn’t.