The Straights Story

Greener Grass (2019) Dir. Jocelyn DeBoer, Dawn Luebbe

Jill Davies and Lisa Wetbottom compete for approval and acceptance in a nightmare suburbia.

“Now that my only child is a dog, would it be possible for you to give me the baby I gave you back?” - Jill

If that quote sounds like your sort of thing, you’re going to love Greener Grass. 

What could easily feel like a feature-length Too Many Cooks - or a series of SNL sketches stitched together - is, in fact, one of the creepiest and more satirical horror films I’ve seen in recent years.

UCB alums Jocelyn DeBoer and Dawn Luebbe write, direct and star and build something completely unique. I’ve seen it twice now and continue to find new details to unpick and pull at.

While some of the visual gags may feel random and/or played exclusively for laughs, it all starts having this hypnotic and cumulative effect on you as a viewer. Before long, the suburban hellscape that Greener Grass plants us in feels suffocating, isolating and deeply, deeply disturbing.

That the entire town all wear braces could easily just be a fun detail, but it also works as a visual metaphor for the constricting, painful, and uniform expectations of suburbia and the heteronormative nuclear family. It also nods to this idea of a perfect version of ourselves, waiting just around the corner. You are not good enough. Not yet. But soon.

The film is full of details like this: children playing on a football field that’s maybe also a cemetery, golf carts as the sole mode of transport, people eating food off the floor out of politeness…

The driving motivator of the plot is primarily that: weaponised politeness. Jill, our central protagonist, essentially explodes her life out of a fear of being perceived to be rude or non-conforming. 

“You go first. I’m never first.” - Jill

The unreal, pastel-coloured, hazy, dream-like world that Greener Grass exists in slowly makes you feel like you’ve been overmedicated and abandoned in it. It’s a Lynchian nightmare and it’s entirely real. Greener Grass answers the question: if aliens only had tv and film depictions of the American Dream to depict a perfect, utopian vision for humanity, what would they imagine?

The absurdity isn’t just playful, it feels like a primal scream of anguish. Is this what we aspire towards?

As the film increasingly adds more overt layers of horror toward the end, I found myself slightly relieved to be in the comforting embrace of some familiar genre tropes. I felt trapped inside the surrealist absurdity of it all. 

Very much like reality then.

Where can I watch it in the UK?

You can stream it for free on Shudder or Amazon.

Pairs well with

The Stepford Wives (1975, dir. Bryan Forbes, criminally not streaming legitimately anywhere but YouTube has this) is one of my all-time favourite horror films and a perfect accompaniment to Greener Grass.

The title has become a meme/trope by now so you probably know the story, but in case you don’t, a spoiler free summary: a young, professional couple move to Stepford where all the women act and dress similarly, and have retrograde views on married life.

It’s a film that sadly, due to the rise of the Manosphere and trends like Trad Wives, doesn’t lose its power or relevancy - even today.

An essential watch (avoid the 2004 remake though).

Further Reading

• Jocelyn Deboer and Luebbe Dawn talk briefly about the film on Somewhere/Else. 
• They also appear on Switchblade Sisters, discussing Greener Grass via their love of John Waters’ Polyester.
• You can watch the original short film of Greener Grass here.
• Princess Weekes on why Don’t Worry Darling didn’t work, but Stepford Wives did.
• Jordan Peele on how Ira Levin (Rosemary’s Baby, Stepford Wives) influenced him.
• Ash Sarkar on Trad Wives.

Other Recommendations

• I found this piece about disability and monstrosity in the Alien franchise interesting.
• My friend is shutting down her Etsy shop and putting a lot of her stock on sale if you’re in the market for a card full of bats for your gothiest friend. Some lovely non-horror related designs are elsewhere in the shop!