WATCH: New psycho thriller, Greta, to hit SA screens

Hitting local screens on 5 July, psycho thriller, Greta, will have you on the edge of your seat. The Neil Jordan-directed film stars Chloë Grace Moretz, Maika Monroe, and Isabelle Huppert and tells the story of Frances McCullen (Chloë Grace Moretz), a young woman who strikes up an unusual friendship with an older woman while struggling to fit into the New York life.

“There was something intriguing about it. It’s the story of the relationship between a younger woman who has lost her mother and an older woman she befriends. It was written in that spare Hollywood style. I began to work with Ray and the script, adding different elements to it, and it became more intriguing as it went on,” Jordan said.

At its core the film is about a young contemporary woman who is modern and forward-looking, and an older woman who is trapped in time.

In Greta, Jordan delivers an entertaining melodrama, with Huppert and Moretz working exceptionally well together in the centre of it all. Huppert delivers a gloriously theatrical performance as a deceitful woman who becomes dangerously obsessed with Moretz’s naive and trusting Frances. As a female antagonist of very small stature, it makes what she does – and what she is capable of – even more unexpected and terrifying. As a game of cat and mouse ensues, the legendary French actress gives a master class in crazy. She takes all the neuroses of her troubled characters in The Piano Teacher and Elle and amps them up a notch.

“It’s always an interesting experience filming a thriller or a horror movie because you’re dealing in emotions that are very heightened, and especially with this film, Isabelle and I felt it was very important to grow that friendship in the beginning, so when it does turn, and you find out who Greta really is, it comes as a sucker punch, and almost more so a heartbreak than just the fear that you feel in that moment,” Moretz said.

Monroe gives a great performance as Erica, the apparently conceited and snarky roommate who becomes more and more involved as the film progresses. The film also stars Stephen Rea as a private investigator hired to investigate Greta and Colm Feore Frances’ estranged father, while Zawe Ashton plays a mysterious woman with important information about Greta’s past.

In the film, Jordan does what he does best; subverting genre expectations and creating a unique and unexpected experience.

“I’m more interested in stories that haven’t been told. I liked that the stalker was a sweet, middle-aged lady. That really intrigued me, and I wanted to see how I could play with that and push the stalker logic into some kind of twisted fairytale. It felt like a contemporary urban version of Hansel and Gretel; but it’s also about something quite serious. It’s about loneliness, and a character who is so lonely she’s willing to do monstrous things to keep people around. I found that desperately sad and interesting, so I just pushed it as far as I possibly could,” Jordan said.

Greta is a contemporary thriller in the vein of films such as Fatal Attraction and Misery, with various twists and turns that the audience might not see coming. It is a skilfully executed psychological thriller that balances terror with elegant comedy, making it hard to resist.

Watch the Greta trailer below: