The Ones Who Grieve (2026)

The Ones Who Grieve was a hard watch for me. There were several points where I genuinely wasn’t sure I wanted to finish it.

The film takes place in a period when survival was already difficult, particularly for women who had few rights and could effectively be treated as property. The movie takes that reality, doubles down on it, and then somehow finds ways to make it even worse. Sexual violence, physical abuse, degradation and mutilation pile up until watching these women suffer becomes the overwhelming experience of the film.

There’s a sequence involving a “birth” that particularly got to me. What we’re seeing is horrifying, yet the character experiences it as an improvement in her circumstances which says a lot about just how terrible her existence has become.

The father at the center of much of this is absolutely monstrous which is a testament to the performance. Early on, he feels like a man using religion to exert control over everyone around him. As the movie progresses, religion increasingly becomes his justification for doing whatever he wants to whomever he wants. By the end, there’s almost a glee to his cruelty. He looks, feels and acts like the devil himself, while continuing to behave as though everything happening is somehow at the fault of others.

The daughter’s performance is equally important. There’s vulnerability to her, but also a toughness constantly trying to push through. Every attempt to stand up to her father makes you hope she’ll finally escape his control, which makes what happens to her increasingly difficult to watch. One particular act of mutilation is shown with relatively simple imagery, but that simplicity makes it overwhelmingly brutal. Even when it appears she may finally have overcome the people tormenting her, the movie refuses to provide much comfort. You’re left questioning whether she actually accomplished anything at all.

There are more traditional horror elements which I found interesting. The film has what feels like a different take on zombies, but it’s primarily used to frame the story and establish its characters. I wish it had explored that material more. The supernatural horror interested me not the relentless human cruelty dominating the movie.

Technically, there’s plenty I can recognize as well done because the movie is well shot and strongly acted, but I did notice what sounded like repeated clothing noise against microphones, which was distracting enough that I kept noticing it.

There was also something much stranger for me. Portions of the music sounded unmistakably like Christopher Young’s Hellraiser score, sometimes seemingly returning to the same section of music. I love that score and listen to it often, so hearing something so familiar repeatedly pulled my attention away from the movie. I couldn’t determine from what I saw whether this was intentional, licensed, temp music or something else, so I don’t want to make a claim about why it was there. I can only say that I recognized it and found its presence confusing.

I never want a filmmaker’s work to fail. Even when something isn’t for me, I want the people who made it to find the audience they were trying to reach. There’s only been one movie where I’ve walked away thinking there simply wasn’t a reason for it to have been made. I’m not saying that about The Ones Who Grieve, but I am left with a different question: I’m really not sure I can say I should have watched it. Spending an entire movie witnessing oppressive brutality against vulnerable characters isn’t why I watch movies, and the quality of the filmmaking wasn’t enough to make that experience worthwhile for me. I wouldn’t watch it again, and I can’t recommend it.

I’m glad I did some research before watching this one. I told Amy afterward that if I’d talked her into watching it with me without knowing what we were getting into, she probably would have immediately filed for divorce. Given how she reacts to depressing, disturbing, or brutal movies, keeping her far away from this one was absolutely the right call.

Anyone particularly sensitive to sexual assault, physical abuse and degradation of women, graphic mutilation, or violence involving animals should know that those elements are not minor parts of this movie. They are fundamental to the experience.

There is craft, strong performances, and even horror ideas I wish the movie had explored further in The Ones That Grieve, but none of that changes what sitting through it was like for me. A long, hard viewing experience where you hope what you've seen won't linger after the film is done.