A gay man who loses his hands in a freak accident is given prosthetics whilst living under the watchful eye of his disapproving mother, but he has other plans for how to use his new appendages.
It’s refreshing to finally see LGBTQ characters and storylines happening outside of the tragic drama realm. For years, the community has been calling for films of different genres, where being of a varying sexual or gender identity is but a subnote to the story and character instead of a definition. The Restoration at Grayson Manor is one such film. Taking a character of LGBTQ identity and combining him with a rather unique plotline unlike anything I’ve seen in recent years, the film creates a darkly hilarious black comedy that feels like exactly the kind of thing we’ve been asking to see, and it executes it pretty close to perfectly, too.
With director Glenn McQuaid’s track record of horror films, and combining his writing skills with Clay McLeod Chapman, The Restoration at Grayson Manor is funny, charming, witty, and downright fun, while also managing to be deeply unsettling and poignantly frightening, too. With tones of overbearing parents, judgement for homosexually AND disability, and generational dissonance embodied, the film has a truly standout plot structure and the vision is clear for what the film has to say. Even the opening scene is the kind of thing that grabs you by the throat while also forcing a laugh. The only other film to ever accomplish that for me was American Psycho. It’s crafted in a way that never bores, but also never overdoes itself, and it keeps you interested all through the laughs and unsettling observations.
A big portion of the credit for the film’s near perfection lands in the lap of Chris Colfer, though. I’ve been a fan of his for a long time, and this performance was no different. He plays both sides of the character with a captivating, charismatic charm that both endears and disturbs, and you simply cannot peel your eyes off of him. Backed up by an equally unhinged and provocatively caricaturized Alice Krige as his mother, the two lead characters really drive the point of the film home, while also tugging at the corners of your mouth for a “should I really be laughing at this?” giggle. Daniel Adegboyega and Gabriela Garcia Vargas are also phenomenal, rounding out this stellar cast of uniquely over the top characters.
My only complaint comes from the cinematography by Narayan Van Maele. Certain scenes, especially towards the beginning, feel slightly discolored and poorly lit, giving the opening scenes a weirdly unprofessional look that dampens expectations of an otherwise well done film. The score by Reuben Harvey is fun and gives it a nice touch overall, and the special effects are just “bad” enough to add to the humor, with bits of CGI and practical effects being made intentionally fake looking to have you chuckling.
Overall, The Restoration at Grayson Manor is a fun and disturbingly hilarious film that gives the LGBTQ community something we’ve been asking for for years, and I couldn’t be more happy to finally be seeing films like this come to fruition.