Horror Movie Review: The Haunting of Grady Farm (2019)

Directed by Matt Dickstein, The Haunting of Grady Farm is a found-footage paranormal horror has four writers who all have starring roles in the movie too. If that doesn’t make you shudder, nothing will.

Emily (Malia Miglino) hosts a show called ‘Haunted American’, which sees her and her crew, partner, and friends; Ryan (Ben Kaplan), Charlie (Jeremiah Burton), Ashley (Ali Roberts), Andy (Shane Hartline) and Samantha (Amanda Sadia), find haunted locations around the country and do documentaries on them.

The latest place they are planning to check out is The Grady Farm in Florida. A place said to be haunted by The Sluagh, hosts of the unforgiven dead in Scottish Gaelic folklore, the most formidable of Scottish fairy people.

It’s time to pack up the camera equipment, jump in a car, film nothing until it’s time for the paranormal antics to start. Which, to be fair, is actually fairly quickly here. One of the minor positives about The Haunting of Grady Farm.

With a story, tone, and style that has been done to death, The Haunting of Grady’s Farm is as banal as they come. Yet, it tries harder than most. Notable by its peppy pace and willingness to get to the ‘good stuff’. Although with how little is actually seen here, it’s debatable just how good that stuff actually is.

The use of folklore to create the horror is a welcome touch as it gives the film a more grounded in reality feel. Yet, like so many other found footage horrors, it fails to capitalise on that by being unwatchable because of the filming style it employs. It’s hard to be that invested in the story around Grady Farm when every angle is liable to give you motion sickness and you have a cast that are severely undeveloped.

It’s also difficult to be frightened when you’re struggled to see what is going on. Although, to be fair, there are one or two moments that effectively add some creep factor or manage to nail a jump scare.

Ultimately, your own experience of found footage will likely dictate how much enjoyment you get from The Haunting of Grady Farm. If you’ve seen your fair share of them than you might struggle to find much to enjoy here. However, if these movies are few and far between for you, the snappy pacing might be enough to hold your attention until the end.