GRETA (2019)

Name: GRETA (2019)
Item: GRETA (2019)
Author: Aaron Minguez

"Demented Stalker"

Family Content: -2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Summary
Audio

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What You Need To Know:

GRETA is a suspenseful horror movie about a young waitress in New York stalked and kidnapped by a demented older woman. Frances, the waitress, befriends an older Frenchwoman named Greta, after Frances returns Greta’s missing purse. Frances tries to cut things off with Greta after Frances discovers Greta lured another young woman to her home with a missing purse. Greta starts stalking Frances, however. Eventually, she kidnaps Frances and sticks her in a small room hidden behind her piano. Will Frances survive?

GRETA is well made and has many suspenseful moments. The villain has lots of tricks up her sleeve, so she makes a formidable opponent for the good guys. As a result, GRETA has some fairly strong jeopardy. The jeopardy adds to the movie’s scary qualities and conflict. That said, GRETA has lots of foul language and some gruesome moments. Also, there’s not enough positive interaction between Frances and her father. After the father hires a private detective, he disappears from the story. A better story arc for his relationship with Frances would have given GRETA a stronger, more uplifting story.

Content:

(B, LL, VVV, S, AA, DD, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

Light moral worldview about a young woman still mourning the loss of her mother after two years, who’s stalked and eventually kidnapped by a lonely, demented older woman who drove her own daughter to suicide

Foul Language:

Five obscenities, five or six strong profanities, 11 light profanities

Violence:

Brief very strong violence when villain’s two fingers are chopped off plus other strong intense violence includes fight over a handgun, handgun is discharged, a character is shot, people are knocked unconscious, young woman is kidnapped and locked into a trunk, character stumbles over a mummified corpse, a reference to a side character being driven to suicide because of her controlling mother

Sex:

Some light references to young people hooking up

Nudity:

No nudity

Alcohol Use:

Brief alcohol use, and a reference to a side character attending AA meetings

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

Brief smoking and kidnap victim is drugged; and,

Miscellaneous Immorality:

Kidnapping, woman is held against her will, stalking, and young woman is upset with her father because he’s “moved on” after her mother’s death two years ago, but she has not, so the father-daughter relationship is strained.

More Detail:

GRETA is a suspenseful horror movie about a young waitress still grieving the loss of her mother after two years, who befriends a lonely older woman, only to find the woman is demented and wants to control her. GRETA is well made and has many suspenseful moments, but it has lots of foul language, a couple gruesome moments and not enough positive interaction between the waitress and her father.

While riding the subway in New York City, a young waitress named Frances finds a purse that’s been left on one of the seats. Frances takes the purse, finds an ID inside and decides to return the purse to the owner. The owner turns out to be a lonely older Frenchwoman named Greta, who lives in another part of town. Frances, who’s still grieving over the loss of her mother two years ago, befriends Greta. Greta tells Frances she has a daughter in Paris who’s attending a music school there.

Greta invites Frances over to dinner one evening. While looking for some candles, Frances finds that Greta has a hidden stash of purses. One purse has a note with Frances’ name and number on it. Another purse has another woman’s name and phone number on it. Spooked by her discovery, Frances immediately feigns being sick. She tries to cut off all contact with Greta, but Greta starts stalking Frances at the restaurant where Frances works.

Eventually, Greta kidnaps Frances and sticks her in a small room hidden behind her piano. Meanwhile, Frances’ father thinks she went away with her roommate on a trip while the roommate thinks Frances went with her father on a trip. Will Frances survive?

That said, GRETA has lots of foul language, including five or six strong profanities, and a couple gruesome moments. Also, there’s not enough positive interaction between Frances and her father. After the father hires a private detective to find Frances, he disappears from the story. A stronger, positive story arc for his relationship with Frances would have given GRETA a stronger, more uplifting story. Instead of this, the movie focuses on the friendship with her roommate.

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Quality:

- Content: -2