Working a job can feel like going through hell. The demands on certain industries are incredibly high with very little rewards or opportunities for growth, and the metrics for success can be punishing if not entirely unachievable. The horror anthology Grind puts a devilish spin on the notion of truly hating your job, assembling several stories of people approaching work with good intentions and suffering mercilessly for their sincere efforts. It’s an appropriately agonizing ride that isn’t likely to make people want to go back to their own jobs after watching, with the only bit of relief being that what they do can’t be quite as bad as what these characters have to endure.
The first segment of Grind begins in a large warehouse with an employee trying desperately to find the items she needs, clearly evocative of an Amazon-type business that promises lightning-speed delivery without considering the cost of actual humans running around frantically to find physical items. When she doesn’t make her target, it doesn’t just mean a stern warning, but something far more nefarious. It’s a fitting introduction for the rest of this anthology’s content, which includes a content creator aware of the stakes of not selling a set number of products, a delivery driver determined to complete his task even as he faces a brutal time loop, and workers opting to go on strike and contending with a management tactic much more sinister than sending in scabs.
Filmmakers Brea Grant, Ed Dougherty, and Chelsea Stardust work in concert to direct separate films that, written by Grant and Dougherty, flow relatively seamlessly into one another. That they feature different characters and interpretations of how work can be hell is immaterial since it does feel like one long, deliberate slog where a new miserable facet of the lack of work-life balance is revealed and getting over one unfortunate aspect is quickly replaced. This experience is deliberately inescapable, yet it’s also laced with entertainment, meant to be enjoyed as a satire of how jobs are advertised and the expectations they promise, provided those watching have the time and money to take almost two hours away from what they hate doing to enjoy some version of relaxing, or at least unwinding, with a movie like this.
What’s cleverest about this film, which doesn’t hold back in some of its segments in its horror elements and the violence visited upon defenseless employees (much more physical rather than emotional in this interpretation), is that its stories all feel relatable to some degree. It’s possible to trace potential points of inspiration for each of them, from all-too-alluring multi-level marketing schemes to corporate responses to unionizing. The most haunting of them all finds an eager interviewee being told that, even though he did get the above-ground job, he needs to complete a trial period in the basement content moderating videos. It turns out the quota he has to hit is in the millions and every video is horrendously disturbing, an effective exaggeration of a common bait-and-switch which reveals a seemingly purposeful tactic to break even those who show promise and could perform well if given the chance.
The still image selected for this film’s SXSW premiere, which shows Barbara Crampton and Rob Huebel screaming, and its classification as comedy/horror/sci-fi, do just what the employers in this film don’t and offer up exactly the right set of expectations. It’s as maniacal as it is funny, finding twisted humor in the misery of those either with no options or with the misfortune to have made a bad decision to believe strangers who purport to want to do something good for them. This isn’t a message movie seeking to change the world or even one individual workplace, but rather to mine entertainment from the way people talk about – and some experience – their day-to-day jobs. It feels more cohesive than many anthology projects, impressively maintaining the same overall tone through multiple directors and new worlds. It’s certainly not for everyone, especially those who, while watching, won’t be able to laugh at the suffering of those in similar predicaments, but it’s a fun, twisted rollercoaster mind bender for those willing to let loose and engage with what it has to offer.
Movie Rating: 7/10
