THE KILLGRIN - Mark Reviews Movies

The Killgrin, Dark Sky Films

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Review by Mark Dujsik | April 24, 2025

The monster is yet again a metaphor in The Killgrin, and at this point, one has to wonder if that's just the way things are for a good number of horror movies and most stories that want to be about grief/trauma for the foreseeable future. Writer/director Joanna Tsanis, making her feature debut, does have something of an unlikely advantage in this story, because the budgetary limitations of this horror tale about a woman trying to cope with the sudden, horrific death of her boyfriend keep the eponymous creature at bay for a while.

That means the story actually is about Miranda (Konstantina Mantelos) and her difficulty coming to terms with the suicide of her boyfriend Noah (Fuad Ahmed). For all of the shadowy visions and grisly aftermaths of the monster's work that are in this movie, its opening scene might be its most unsettling, simply because it feels so real. Miranda comes home from work as a flight attendant, is surprised to discover Noah at the couple's apartment and sitting on the couch with a smile on his face, and asks how he's doing.

He tells Miranda that he feels good, which seems like a surprise to both of them. After she showers, she returns to the room where Noah had been sitting. There's no sign of him, and gradually, she pieces together why he isn't here, why his phone is still on the sofa, and why the window is open.

Several weeks later, Miranda is on bereavement leave from her job, attending a support group for those who have lost loved ones to suicide, and unable to shake the constant reminders and memories of Noah's last moments alive. Nothing seems to be working, so she eventually visits a psychic, who informs her that a sort of spiritual "infection" has attached itself to her aura. It's feeding off her misery, and while she doesn't believe it at first, her experiences start to make her think it could be a distinct possibility.

A good portion of this story is about the horror element. Miranda begins to see shadows on the wall that look like some monstrous figure, moving just as she realizes its presence. A couple of people die in gruesome but mysterious ways that no one can comprehend, although it is a bit strange that everyone, including a couple of cops who are looking into the return of a potential stalker from Miranda's past, chalk up these puzzling deaths to some kind of inexplicable tragedy. To be clear, the jaws of the victims are basically ripped off, while their faces are stuck in a look of pure terror. It seems odd that the lead detective (played by Ramona Milano) on Miranda's stalker case doesn't even consider the possibility of a killer on the loose.

Honestly, though, the basic illogic and inconsistency of the horror parts of this story aren't worth much worry. After all, the movie is primarily about Miranda and her feelings of helplessness in the face of her boyfriend's suicide. Despite the inherent strangeness of those emotions becoming embodied in some kind of wrinkly creature that's apparently killing people close to her, Tsanis does take the basic emotional premise of grief, guilt, trauma, and anger seriously.

Beyond the constant memories of Noah in life and death, the most effective scenes here involve Miranda's relationship with her friend Andie (Gillian Fortin), who seems to have it all—a successful career, a nice house, a loving husband—but confides in her friend that she isn't happy. Miranda knows those words and knows the sad, hollow look on Andie's face. Sure, the inevitable payoff to this subplot is more in line with the horror aspects of the story, but there's something to the character, to her connection with the dead boyfriend, and to the way that Miranda does once again find herself unable to understand what she might have missed and wondering what she might have done differently.

There's a level of sincerity here that initially overcomes how messy much of the story, both in terms of its grounded elements and its horror trappings, actually is. Some other characters include fellow support-group attendee Brian (Adam Tsekhman), who constantly flirts with Miranda with aggressive awkwardness, and Damien (Cristo Fernández), an ex-boyfriend who was stalking her after their break-up and appear to have resumed that behavior following Noah's death. Both of these characters are off-putting in distinct ways (Damien for obvious reasons and Brian because he's forced comic relief) but, more to the point, feel as if they exist in a completely different movie than the one Tsanis apparently wants to make.

That uncertainty of purpose eventually becomes more widespread here, as the monster takes over the narrative and shows more of itself, especially during a showdown that puts the creature fully outside the realm of allegory. To be sure, the creature of The Killgrin is a disturbing one, but it's not as compelling as a threat or thoughtful as a metaphor when compared to the more straightforward approach the movie occasionally takes to grief.

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