Greywood’s Plot (2021) Review

Dom (Josh Stifter, who also directed, co-wrote, filmed and edited) is a guy who yearns for a life more exciting than watching episodes of cold case TV programmes with his mum over takeout food. What he does possess is a passion for the unknown and he’s looking to follow up on a web series he assembled which focused on the possible existence of The Northern Banshee.

That opportunity presents itself when Dom comes into possession of an anonymous video tape which appears to contain actual footage of the legendary Chupacabra and, with his not always enthusiastic bestie Miles (Keith Radichel) in tow, Dom heads out into the woods and on to the land of the kind, accommodating Doug (co-writer Daniel Degnan), who seems almost as excited as Dom that evidence of the hitherto mythic creature may finally be captured.

Having gone into this absolutely cold, I knew absolutely nothing of the plot of, er, Greywood’s Plot nor do I still have any knowledge of the filming schedule itself. Was this all shot in sequence? It feels as if it was, Stifter’s micro-budgeted, black and white feature beginning in a slightly stilted way, the occasional faltering delivery of the dialogue hinting that the viewer may be in a for a long 85 minutes.

However, as the slightly clunky opening taste of Dom’s home life and those initial Clerks-esque moments of back and forth between he and Miles give way to a Blair Witch-style tale of innocents venturing into the woods to find themselves embroiled into a situation slowly spiralling out of control, everything about the production gathers confidence.

This leads to memorable dream sequences, plenty of gooey stuff for our heroes to step in, a touch of welcome slapstick and even an incredibly fun animated plot break which is used to discuss an urban myth involving killer hobos.

That’s even before the proverbial hits the fan, leading to a final act which spins off in unexpectedly twisted and bloody ways, throwing in a decision made by one of our protagonists which is the refreshing opposite of how everyone else would behave in a similar situation and yet is apposite to the character’s arc, chiming with those early moments and resulting in a climax which is both satisfying, affecting and deeply disturbing, with one particular shot that I’m unsure I’ll ever be able to get out of my mind.

At one point, someone says, “We’re turning trash into something exciting” and although it would be highly unfair to refer to the components of Greywood’s Plot as trash, there’s an undeniable alchemy at play here as Stifter and his band of grassroots filmmakers conjure such indelible strangeness out of almost nothing. The final shot is chilling and blackly amusing, giving the viewer the chance to look both backwards and forwards in terms of plot and to reflect on how perhaps we’ve been played as effortlessly at some of the cast.

Stifter makes for an unusual lead but his awkwardness and frustration serve the story in ways which will only become apparent when all of the pieces eventually come together. Radichel is amusingly droll, complete with his annoyance with anyone who doesn’t hold their beer a certain way when they drink it from the bottle and his increasing unease at their monster mission, culminating in his discovery of a bin full of…. well, I’ll leave you to discover that one for yourselves.

For all its rough edges, the occasional inconsistency of the performances and the awkwardness of the odd line of dialogue, Greywood’s Plot hits – or should that be splatters? – the target because it commits fully to its premise and drives home a ballsy final hour that transcends its meagre budget to deliver a series of genuinely nightmarish sequences and an oddly triumphant, bizarrely redemptive conclusion.

A zero-money horror tale more than made up for with its wealth of imagination, Josh Stifter’s film handles its shifts in tone with an ease that’s far more assured than its gargantuan studio counterparts and takes the audience to some extremely dark places while never losing sight of the humanity of the piece. Greywood’s Plot wears its influences on its gore-soaked sleeve but it has plenty to say of its own. You’ll never listen to Home On The Range in quite the same way again.

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