''The Granny'' is a 1995 American

horror comedy Comedy horror (also called horror comedy) is a literary, television and film genre that combines elements of comedy and horror fiction. Comedy horror has been described as having three types: "black comedy, parody and spoof." Comedy horror can a ...

film directed by

Luca Bercovici Luca Bercovici (born February 22, 1957) is an American filmmaker, writer, producer and actor. In 1979, as part of Bercovici's earliest involvements in filmmaking, he spent six months in Japan as a dialogue director for the miniseries, ''Shōg ...

and written by Bercovici and Sam Bernard. The film stars

Stella Stevens Stella Stevens (born Estelle Caro Eggleston; October 1, 1938 – February 17, 2023) was an American actress. She was the mother of actor Andrew Stevens. Stevens began her acting career in 1959 in the film ''Say One for Me'', winning the Golden ...

as a grandmother who comes back from her grave to seek revenge on her greedy family. After a limited release at drive-in theaters, the film was printed directly to

VHS VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s. Ma ...

video format. Noted by collectors of modern

B-movies A B movie, or B film, is a type of cheap, low-budget commercial motion picture. Originally, during the Golden Age of Hollywood, this term specifically referred to films meant to be shown as the lesser-known second half of a double feature, s ...

for its poor script and amateur acting, ''The Granny'' has been called "one of the finer pieces of trash".Taylor, J.R.
''The Granny''
Video Review, Entertainment Weekly, May 26, 1995''The Granny''
Review, Media-Assault.com, May 12, 1999

Synopsis

The family of a wealthy woman named Anastasia "Granny" Gargoli (

) wants her to die, in order for them to inherit her insurance. Granny is given an eternal life potion by the mysterious preacher Namon Ami (

). Although the preacher admonishes her not to take it in sunlight, Granny ignores him and drinks it in broad daylight. She melts into nothing but arises from a grave as a

vampire A vampire is a mythical creature that subsists by feeding on the Vitalism, vital essence (generally in the form of blood) of the living. In European folklore, vampires are undead, undead humanoid creatures that often visited loved ones and c ...

-like monster. Granny starts killing her family to prevent them from inheriting her

fortune Fortune may refer to: General * Fortuna or Fortune, the Roman goddess of luck * Luck * Wealth * Fate * Fortune, a prediction made in fortune-telling * Fortune, in a fortune cookie Arts and entertainment Film and television * ''The Fortune'' (19 ...

. It is up to Kelly (

Shannon Whirry Shannon Meta Whirry (born 1964/1965) is an American actress. Early life Shannon Meta Whirry was born in Green Lake, Wisconsin, United States, the daughter of Sherril Jean "Sherry" (; 1944–2016) and Russell Clyde Whirry (1943–1988). Career A ...

) and Amy ( Samantha Hendricks) to stop the blood hungry, vampire-like granny.

Cast

as Granny *

as Kelly * Samantha Hendricks as Amy *

Sandy Helberg Sandy Helberg (born May 28, 1949) is an American actor. Early life Helberg was born in Frankfurt, Germany, the son of Tonia (née Altman) and Sam Helberg. His parents were both Holocaust survivors from German-occupied Poland, who met in a concen ...

as Albert * Brant von Hoffman as David * Patricia Sturges as Andrea *

Ryan Bollman Ryan Matthew Bollman (born August 9, 1972) is an American television and film actor best known for his roles in '' Children of the Corn II: The Final Sacrifice'' (1992), ''Only the Strong'' (1993), and '' The NeverEnding Story III'' (1994). Pe ...

as Junior * Heather Elizabeth Parkhurst as Antoinette * Joseph Bernard as Mr. Sadler *

as Namon Ami

Production

Music

The film score was composed by noted Hollywood composer Kendall Schmidt (famous for re-scoring ''

Witchfinder General Matthew Hopkins ( 1620 – 12 August 1647) was an English witch-hunter whose career flourished during the English Civil War. He was mainly active in East Anglia and claimed to hold the office of Witchfinder General, although that titl ...

'' when it was released on VHS). The film also featured the song ''Hard Feelings'' by the heavy rock band

Blackthorne ''Blackthorne'' (released as ''Blackhawk'' in some European countries) is a cinematic platform game developed by Blizzard Entertainment. It was released for the Super NES and MS-DOS in 1994. The cover art for the SNES version was drawn by Jim Le ...

from their album ''Afterlife''.

Release

Rating

Initially the film was to be given

NC-17 The Motion Picture Association film rating system is used in the United States and its territories to rate a motion picture's suitability for certain audiences based on its content. The system and the ratings applied to individual motion picture ...

, but eventually was rated R for violence and gore, crude sexuality and language.

References

External links

Granny Games
*
''The Granny'' Movie Review
Something Awful, January 20, 2000 1995 comedy horror films American comedy horror films 1995 films Films directed by Luca Bercovici 1990s English-language films 1990s American films Films about inheritances Films about immortality American vampire films American slasher films 1990s slasher films English-language comedy horror films Thanksgiving horror films {{comedy-horror-film-stub