YOUR FRIENDLY _______FROM HELL..........FILLING IN THE BLANK WITH "GRETA".......

Greta (2018)   When it comes to skill and talent, horror thrillers are the great equalizers...........

             Doesn't matter whether the movie was carefully assembled by high class, grade A cinema artistes or slapped together by hacks sniffing after a few fast pre-Halloween bucks.......

             As Uncle Stevie King oft declares........sooner or later they all gotta go "Booga Booga!"

              BQ always had a soft spot for the genre that the "Greta" crew chose to revive.......it flourished throughout the 1990's, kicked off by 92's "The Hand That Rocks The Cradle"...... a genre.which I dubbed in this post's headline as "Your Friendly________From Hell"......

                It's simple, really. You fill in the blank space with  a profession (or a personage).......as in, Nanny, Landlord, Cop, Neighbor,Roommate, Mother, Father, Uncle, Brother-In-Law......etc, etc....

                And there's your movie right there. It takes some time, but the poor, hapless, unsuspecting dodos who function as the protagonists in this genre finally realize, way too late, that.....OH MY GOD.....I THOUGHT HE/SHE WAS SO NICE....BUT THEY'RE THE _________FROM HELL!!

              I had a slight glimmer of hope that given the caliber of the folks involved here (director-writer Neil Jordan, Chloe Grace Moretz, Isabelle Huppert,).....that they might find a way put a fresh new spin on this all too familiar material......

               Ultimately.....they don't.  But even though they settle for all the usual horror-thriller tropes, it's still a slick, entertaining first class job.  Too bad, though.......that with Neil Jordan regular Stephen Rea on board, all Jordan could find for him was the most worthless, thankless role an actor can have in a movie like this.................

                  No use quibbling, since "Greta" does deliver the goods 'n scares you expect ......pulling off a few cheesy, shameless twists, including one involving Maika Monroe, stuck in the other most thankless, worthless role in thrillers......

                  And a nice, flip-the-script, change of pace for Moretz, who established her busy career by normally playing the "Booga Booga!" role in horror films.("Carrie", "Let Me In")

                  3 & 1/2 stars (***1/2)......and you can safely avoid the inevitable direct-to-video sequel that I can safely guarantee will never feature Moretz or Huppert.  Let that one just lay there untouched in the bargain bin, right next to the Steven Seagal movies......