Grampy is a 2023 short horror film from Graham Burrell, who wrote, directed, and edited the film. Grampy has been making the rounds on the film festival circuit, winning “Best Director – U.S. Short Film” at the Jim Thorpe Film Festival, “Best Dark Comedy” at the Allentown Film Festival, and “Best in Fest” at the Northeastern Pennsylvania Film Festival. 

The film introduces us to Jenny (Kerry Gallagher), a young woman grieving the recent loss of her father (Gene Connelly – 2012’s 6 Degrees of Hell). She has agreed to a dinner at the home of Cody (R.J. Pennington), a young man that she met through grief counseling who is seemingly still dealing with the loss of his grandfather (Ralph Cashen – Late Phases, Hubie Halloween) whom he refers to as “Grampy”. The evening starts pleasant enough, Jenny believing that she has met a kindred soul to talk to and help deal with the pain of loss. However, she is soon mortified to learn that Grampy is still around. In fact, Cody has had the old man stuffed (taxidermy-style) and placed next to his bed, claiming that the old man’s spirit watches over and protects him while he sleeps.

Naturally, this development creates some significant unease for Jenny. In other words, she’s creeped the fuck out. She attempts to excuse herself from the dinner… and from Cody’s home. However, the evening soon takes a massive turn for the worse when an impending storm forces her to spend the night in the house with both men. Although Grampy starts out morbidly comedic, the film starts veering more in the direction of horror as Jenny’s night progresses into sinister territory, although maybe not in the way that some viewers, such as myself, may initially expect.

The film features entertaining performances from its limited cast. Cashen’s performance, as it probably should, stands out as his lifeless presence manages to be effectively creepy and unsettling.  The frozen smirk that the character is forced to wear in death conveys a contentment with his fate that’s both unsettling and, possibly, misleading. 

 

Despite the horror and comedic elements, the film does wade into melancholy waters at times, especially in the film’s closing moments. While these more sentimental aspects may possibly alienate a few viewers, it may give the film more of a purpose than just trying to spook you, serving as a tale of redemption of the spirit and not just the retribution of a spirit. As evidenced by the tributes in the film’s closing credits, Burrell clearly brought his own experiences with the loss of loved ones to the film. Regardless of the results, the choice to bring something so personal into one’s work is always a brave one.

As Grampy is still playing film fests, it’s not currently available to watch online. However, in my conversations with Burrell, I was advised that the film should be available to watch sometime during the Halloween season. Hopefully, Grampy is one that you will add to your October viewings. At only 15 minutes long, I’m sure you can squeeze it in somewhere between your umpteenth viewings of Halloween 5 and Walking Dead reruns on AMC.

In the meantime, you can keep up with the latest updates on Grampy, as well as Graham Burrell’s past and future films on his website www.grahamburrellfilm.com. There, you will find links to the filmmaker’s other releases, so maybe check those out as well.