Tod (Rhys Wakefield…who we interviewed right here) and his sister Lani (Fabianne Therese) live a life of decadent excess high in the Hollywood hills within the walls of their grandmother Judy’s (an aging starlet who know hosts a home shopping show) mansion. Things are all wine and roses until ol’ Tod (accidentally?) busts a cap in Judy’s ass making her as dead as her movie career. With Judy gone, how can the siblings charmed lives continue on as before? Well Tod is as good at hatching schemes as he is at murdering his relatives, so he seduces the producer of the shopping show and sets Lani up as the host in the wake of Judy’s “absence”…which actually improves the ratings, ‘cuz Lani is hot as the Devil’s balls and all. Things of course escalate, and our “heroes” must go further and further to maintain their ruse!
The Grand Son is a great example of a slow burn thriller done right! I loved the detached nature in which Tod and Lani spend their days and plan their plots all with their selfish goals in sight. Wakefield and Therese are fantastic in their respective roles, and come off as the demented cousins of Patrick Bateman. And as with that American Psycho, these characters are fascinating to watch, where by rights, we should be immediately turned off by their self-absorbed ways…and their attempts at that classic game “Save Ass” are pretty damn riveting. Adding to the overall aesthetic is the mansion our characters inhabit…a beautiful home that is slowly rotting, and filled with shadows. It gives the proceedings a Gothic flair and becomes a character in it’s own right.
On the negative side of things, and this will have to be one of my now classic “vague as all fuck” statements…the ending of this film may frustrate some viewers. Why? Well, I can’t say without ruining the whole movie for ya, but things didn’t wind up as I expected.
If you dig on films like American Psycho or Cruel Intentions, I’d wager you’d enjoy The Grand Son as well; it’s dark, demented and decadent with an unexpected Gothic ambiance that sets it apart from the crowded thriller genre!
For more on The Grand Son from Horror Fuel head here!
