Paul Solet: Director
Review: Grace
Sunday, September 09, 2007
Grace
Director: Paul Solet
Release: 2006
Six minutes.
Thats all it takes.
At least for Grace writer/director Paul Solet.
In the space of six minutes, Solet manages to tell a fully self-contained, complete, unambiguous, and deeply unsettling tale of horror.
Given the short running time and the densely packed nature of the narrative, to give away more than the barest of plot details would be to spoil the enjoyment for those who have yet to see the film.
Suffice it to say that it tells the story of a young woman, played by Liza Weil (Gilmore Girls, Stir of Echoes), whose unborn child dies as the result of a car accident. The mother-to-be, however, insists upon carrying the dead fetus to term. Then things get disturbing. Weils performance is intense, yet perfectly modulated.
Brian Austin Green (Beverly Hills 90210) also does a commendable job, and takes full advantage of his all-too-brief screen time. However, the acting is not the sole recipient of the credit for the films effectiveness. The cinematography, the sets, even the costume design are all significant factors in the films seemingly effortless transitioning between realism and the ambience of utter nightmare. Mention must also be made of the razor-sharp editing, which gives every image precisely the right amount of time to makes its impact upon the viewer before vanishing, only to be replaced by another vivid snapshot of the deranged.
Another major point in the films favor is that it isnt standard slasher or supernatural boogieman fare.
To quote one of the films producers: Its not, Look out, whats going to come around the corner and eat you? Its, Oh, God, what has gone wrong?
According to the behind-the-scenes portion of the DVD, the short film is a distillation of the first act of a full-length screenplay of the same name, for which Solet is seeking funding. If this six-minute film is any indication, the feature will knock even die-hard fans for a loop.
However, taken as a stand-alone entity, Grace says a great deal about the validity of the short form in horror.
There are many who argue that, in horror fiction, short stories are more effective than novels, in part because short stories demand a less sustained suspension of disbelief. Short horror stories, when done well, are nightmares boiled down to their essence, and this is what Solet does so well with Grace.
As one writer once said regarding short horror fiction, the aim is to provide the reader with a short, sharp shock. In the hands of the best, that shock will continue to resonate long after the book is closed. The final moment of Grace achieves that same effect. That image, and the final line, will stick in the viewers mind like a barbed fishhook.
By their nature, short genre films (and shorts in general) are woefully underexposed, seen predominantly by festivalgoers and those who scour the Internet. 
Given those circumstances, it would be easy to assume that a short that was culled from a full-length script would be little more than a marketing tool. And that assumption would be dead wrong. There are no loose ends in Grace, no sense of incompletion, no sense that one is watching a glorified trailer.
Perhaps Solet himself should have the final word as he states, behind the scenes, the short certainly leaves you with some ... holy shit, where would the feature go?
Heres hoping the horror community will find out soon.
Tim Emswiler
Cinescare Contributor
