Capitalism Kills in Horror Anthology ‘Grind’ [SXSW Review]
Capitalism kills, man. It grinds us into nothing, rendering us exhausted, hollow shells of ourselves, eager to abandon principle and sense to simply survive. In most ways, it’s the scariest thing there is, and it’s no wonder horror, from They Live to last year’s Alien: Romulus, often mines capitalist exploits from the past, present, and future. This year’s horror anthology, Grind, which had its world premiere at the SXSW Festival, reminds us there is no ethical consumption under capitalism, because while it’s ultimately a product unto itself, it’s heaps of bloody fun.
Ed Dougherty and Brea Grant do the bulk of the heavy lifting, with producer Chelsea Stardust helming the prologue and epilogue. Across the six shorts, it’s just those three filmmakers, and Grind has a conspicuously stronger visual cadence than most anthologies, not only because the talent is consistent, but also because Grind wisely dovetails its segments from one to the next with confident audiovisual prowess. Take the prologue, for instance, a hearty riff on the hellscape of Amazon (erm, DRGN) fulfillment centers. Pissing in bottles is a small price to pay for the horror of missing a fulfillment countdown. Stardust moves from the warehouse to a van, handing the reins to Grant as the next entry segues from the delivery made.
That short, MLM, is unequivocally the strongest of the bunch. Sarah (Jessika Van) is hoping to ascend the MLM ladder via Lala Leggings, an enterprise run by horror mainstay Barbara Crampton. It’s all chaotic livestreams and penalties until Sarah chucks the cheap polyester into the trash. That’s a no-no. Grant could have kept it grounded, but the consequences for disobedience are so absurd, so funny, so very horror anthology, my smile never faded once. Bonus points for a sharp satire of how often these schemes prey on vulnerable young women.
Benny (Vinny Thomas) headlines the next entry, Delivery, also helmed by Grant. The segment’s temporal distortion is fun, and Grant’s writing retains the probing smarts of MLM (this time tackling the gig economy, namely food delivery), but its sci-fi/horror antics feel too big and structurally removed from the rest of Grind’s even-keel footing.
Ed Dougherty’s Content Moderation and Union Meeting are similarly uneven. Content Moderation is primo disturbing, and it’s remarkable that, for as much fun as Grind is having, it can easily instill genuine chills. Joel’s (Christopher Rodriguez Marquette) path to DRGN promotion is ostensibly easy– just moderate about 6,000,000 social media videos, ranging from real deaths to caricatured dark web stuff. Dougherty, I recognized that car flip. Dougherty stages the ceaseless exposure to graphic content with aplomb, and Marquette’s cognitive decline is stunning (and terrifying) to behold.
Which leaves Union Meeting. It’s still wisely linked to what’s come before, though the joke runs dry pretty quickly. Baristas, maybe those at a certain popular chain, want to unionize. That’s the bit, and while it succumbs to gory mayhem, the horror never parallels the real horrors of working at monolithic food empires. It’s a monster simply to be a monster, and nothing Dougherty envisions could match the real nightmare of union-busting corporate overlords.
Stardust’s epilogue gives Crampton and Rob Huebel (Content Moderation and Union Meeting) a touch more time, but it’s a brief, compulsory end. So, Grind doesn’t exactly break the anthology mold. It’s inconsistent, and the format’s nature makes it hard not to compare one entry to another. With a wickedly smart thematic throughline, however, and some truly exceptional work from Grant and Dougherty, Grind beats the odds. Punch in.
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Grind
Summary
The anti-capitalist bent of Grind adds nightmarish flavor to the fun yet somewhat uneven modern horror anthology. Our SXSW review:
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