Greta Blu Ray Review (Universal)

Greta is a 2018 thriller film co-written, produced, & directed by Neil Jordan (Mona Lisa, The Company of Wolves, Interview with the Vampire, & The Crying Game). It was originally called The Widow. It was co-written by Ray Wright (Pulse, Case 39, & The Crazies). It was produced by Lawrence Bender (Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Kill Bill, From Dusk Till Dawn, & Intruder), Sidney Kimmel (Hell or High Water, The Place Beyond the Pines, Stand Up Guys, & The Lincoln Lawyer), & James Flynn (Into the Badlands, Vikings, Penny Dreadful, & The Tudors). Frances McCullen (played by: Chloë Grace Moretz from Kick-Ass 1/2, Let Me In, Carrie, & Suspiria) is a waitress living a quiet life in New York City with her charismatic roommate Erica Penn (played by: Maika Monroe from The Guest, It Follows, The 5th Wave, & Independence Day: Resurgence). She recently lost her mother to cancer & she has a distant relationship with her workaholic father Chris (played by: Colm Feore from The Prodigy, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, Thor, & The Chronicles of Riddick).

Frances finds a handbag belonging to a woman named Greta Hideg (played by: Isabelle Huppert from Mrs. Hyde, Elle, Dead Man Down, & I Heart Huckabees) on the subway. She goes to her home to return the item & she has coffee with the stranger. She finds out that she is a piano teacher, a widow, & her daughter is studying in Paris. Frances missing her mother agrees to become friends with the older Greta & they start to hang out. After spending some time with her, Frances has a strange feeling about her new friend Greta & finds evidence to confirm it. She decides to stop talking to her & just walks away from the relationship. Greta won’t give up & she keeps trying to contact her. After being stalked at various places including her work, Frances decides to lie & make things better with the disturbed woman. Frances ends up missing & her father hires Brian Cody (played by: Stephen Rea from V for Vendetta, Underworld Awakening, Interview with the Vampire, & The Crying Game) to investigate the horrible situation. What happened to Frances? Will she ever come back from this disaster????

Greta was a huge surprise for me! I thought the trailer was solid but I didn’t really have high expectations when I originally seen it in theaters. It’s great to see writer & director Neil Jordan get back on track. I’ve been a fan of his work for a long time now & honestly he hasn’t done anything in the last 5 years so it’s refreshing to see him make such a strong comeback with this. I love Chloë Grace Moretz, she’s great in this & it’s one of her better performances in recent years. She’s really growing up & proving that she’s more than a child actor with material like this. Isabelle Huppert is the true highlight here, she is amazing as Greta. It’s definitely her best performance in her entire career. This is one of the creepiest villains that I’ve seen in awhile. I wasn’t expecting this to be so good & she’s the reason for it. The pace was perfect, it was very suspenseful & it had genuine moments that made you feel uneasy. This might do what Jaws did with water with older women that are strangers. HAHA The supporting cast was also impressive featuring character actors like Colm Feore & Stephen Rea. Horror fans will be pleased by this, it kinda comes out of no where. It’s very dark & a great character study on a woman losing her sanity. Personally, I think it gets even better with repeating viewings. This was one of my favorites from the thriller genre, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!!!!

Let’s talk about the high definition presentation & special features from Universal! This 1080p (2.39:1) transfer looks stunning on blu ray & it really shows off the scenery in New York. The DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 English & French (Canada): DTS 5.1  tracks are solid, most of the film takes place in an apartment & a small home so the crystal clear dialogue sounds great. It’s not a action packed feature so it won’t rattle your speakers for the most part but the suspenseful moments are elevated & the music has a killer boost to it. It has English SDH, French, & Spanish subtitles. It has 9 “Deleted Scenes” that run almost 6 minutes. It has a bunch of small character moments extended. I am shocked a few of them actually got cut from the final film. It has a few more scenes with Colm Feore. A decent amount of his role vanished here. “Greta: Enemies and Friends” is a little over 3 minutes. It interviews with director Neil Jordan, actors Chloë Grace Moretz, Isabelle Huppert, & Maika Monroe. They talk about the project & their experience on it. They chat about it having 3 female leads & how rare that is the thriller sub genre. They bring how great of a villain Greta is & how she goes from normal to psycho with ease. It also has a slipcover & a digital code. It’s available everywhere right now, CHECK IT OUT!!!!