“Greta”

A mildly effective thriller about a lonely widow (Isabella Hubbert) who lures young women into her lives with a deadly secret and a very twisted agenda. One young lady, Frances (Chloe Grace Moretz) falls into her trap and she just can’t escape it, even after she’s onto her and does whatever she can to allude her. The persistence of Greta becomes too much and she ultimately gets captured. As far as thrillers go, this isn’t too bad. There are some very chilling moments such as the the cat and mouse play with the use of a cellphone when Greta is following Frances’ best friend. That was a really good scene and there were a couple others, but for the most part you’ve seen all this before and much of the last reel is pretty predictable and transparent. I kind of like Hubbert’s over the top performance and Moretz has grown into a very good young actress who likes to take risks. The film in parts is worth seeing, but you can skip this one.

Rating: (**)