What Josiah Saw (2021) by Vincent Grashaw ***BHFF 2021***


Director: Vincent Grashaw
Year: 2021
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: N/A
Genre: Psychological Thriller

Plot:
After each receives a strange letter, the children of a strained family reunite to help sell the family farmhouse and put their tragic background to rest, but the longer they stay the more they realize that keeping the past buried will put everyone around them in danger.

Review:

There wasn't a whole lot to like here as there are some issues. Among the better qualities here is the film's focus on stranged family relationships between everyone that adds a sense of dread to the proceedings. As we're initially introduced to the two guys living on the farm with an antagonistic relationship between them, this sets the stage for the revelations to come later on once the other family members get together for their meetup and the darker secrets that are revealed. Seeing the way the other kids have turned out due to this later announcement which ties everything together as knowing what we do about the situation later on gives that context and clarity to how their lives have turned out including the one now involved with the criminals and the sister with her troubled marriage. There's some energy to the revelation sequence since this has some chasing and brutal kills which gives this part of the film a different tone and ends up holding this up overall.

However, the problem that emerges here is that none of this is remotely interesting or scary. The multifaceted structure, featuring the lives of the two on the farm before going into the second part with the convict getting his mission in order, is barely related to the genre at all. A tortured family drama involving a father verbally abusing his slow son or a chaotic crime thriller featuring a luckless convict caught up in debt trying to trick a girl away from her gypsy parents aren't in the slightest bit scary, exciting or thrilling at all, keeping this one completely removed from any kind of genre activity for as long as it does. This is never dull at all, but with no focus on the genre conventions for nearly the entire time it's easy to lose interest here, which is the main drawback to be had here with very little genre qualities present.


Overview: */5
Far more of a drama than a horror film as the genre-specific qualities are sorely lacking throughout here, that this is a quality film in most regards touching on certain topics that are well-handled but just not in keeping with the genre aesthetic. Keeping those in mind is the key to this one as if you're fine with the random genre attributes and little horror overall then give it a watch, but those who are solely interested in straightforward genre fare should look elsewhere.

This review was part of our coverage of the 2021 Brooklyn Horror Film Festival.

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