A creepy old house, secret letters, squeaky doors and a mystery to uncover; all boxes and more are ticked in the gothic-horror, Raging Grace. And, despite the traditional tropes, none of it is cliché.
Combining gothic genre with colonialist and social themes, Raging Grace tell this important and relevant moral tale astoundingly well.
Playwright Paris Zarcilla’s debut film is a trailblazer in the Gothic Renaissance, creating a film not to be missed.
The Film
The Tagalog-English film follows Joy (Max Eigenmann), an undocumented Filipina immigrant and her daughter, Grace (Jaeden Paige Boadilla), struggling to make ends meet on a cash-in-hand cleaners wage. The opportunity of a live-in position arises, in stately manor home which slowly proves to be too good to be true.
When opening the film, Zarcilla called this chamber horror “very untraditional… with a subject matter that’s unfortunately horrific.” And he certainly described it accurately.
The score, by Jon Clarke, was bewildering perfect. Every moment was orchestrated with precision and talent. Whilst the film would’ve been spooky without, the score is what made it’s most terrifying moments positively bone-chilling.
It’s narratively beautiful, if a little drawn out in the third act.
However, that hardly casts a shadow on the film as a whole. The performance from the cast, particularly David Hayman (Mr. Garrett) is astounding.
It was also Boadilla’s first ever acting gig; and she certainly nailed it.
Final thoughts
Ultimately, Raging Grace is a refreshing take on the gothic-horror genre, with it’s modern angle on colonialism and the British class structure. You’ll be gasping from fright or perhaps even from tears.
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Featured image credit: Last Conker
Journalism student with an interest in culture and news.
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