Directed by Rebekah McKendry
Written by Joshua Hull, David Ian McKendry, Todd Rigney
Starring Ryan Kwanten, J.K. Simmons, Sylvia Grace Crim
Runtime: 79 minutes
Unrated, but contains violence, malevolence, existential dread
Glorious is available on Shudder beginning August 18th

by “Doc” Hunter Bush, Staff Writer and Podcast Czar

The concept of a horror/comedy seems to be a hard one for some people to pin down. They seem to want to know what one definitively is and is not. The problem with that is how easy it is to slip off of that razor thin forward slash separating the two categories. Then you have people arguing that a film isn’t a horror/comedy as much as a “comedy with horror elements” or, conversely, “a horror movie that is funny”. The thing is, these are all just degrees of horror/comedies. Shaun of the Dead, The Wolf of Snow Hollow, Scream, Idle Hands, Scooby-Doo; they all qualify. The argument for any of them could be made. It’s just a matter of where they fall on the spectrum, and a matter of taste as to what a viewer personally enjoys.

The overall success of a horror/comedy depends on how well it establishes and maintains its tone. Glorious, I’m happy to say, does a pretty damn good job of maintaining its tone once it has laid the foundation for it, though it takes a minute. The film starts with Bing Crosby and the Bell Sisters singing “Wait ‘Til the Sun Shines, Nellie” which, while idiosyncratic for a film set in the present day about a cosmic horror inhabiting a truckstop bathroom, doesn’t in and of itself scream “comedy”. We meet Wes (Ryan Kwanten), emotionally distraught over an apparent breakup, pulling over at said truckstop and having a brief interaction with a state trooper (Tordy Clark) who serves as the harbinger, saying enigmatic things before watching Wes get blackout drunk and burn a bunch of stuff in a nearby fire pit.

The film firmly sets its tone the next morning once Wes uses the men’s room and begins his interaction with “Ghat” (J.K. Simmons). A lot of the humor in Glorious comes from the absurd. An ostensibly normal human man having a conversation with a creature so fundamentally alien and unlike mankind that it may as well be a god - there’s nowhere in our world where that meeting doesn’t feel completely insane. However, there are certain places that would make just a hair more sense than others. Places long unventured by mankind, like an abandoned church reclaimed by nature, a cavern in the sea so deep it has never seen sunlight, or Quibi headquarters. The fact that Glorious’ meeting takes place in adjoining stalls of a rest stop men’s room makes all the forthcoming conversations about cosmic destiny and the fate of mankind even more ridiculous.

Just as none of us can decide where and when we are born into the world, Ghat has no control over where he has begun to manifest a physical form. He also has no say in his nature: he is fated to destroy everything. Of course, there may be a way for Wes to prevent it, or else, why would they be talking? On top of that, Wes has to wrap his head around this while recovering from a hangover on the heels of a pretty serious breakup. It’s not an enviable position, and Ryan Kwanten projects just how miserable and out of his depth Wes is at any given time. He’s irritable, desperate, afraid, scheming, and hurt, all while being given a perverted version of the hero’s quest ultimatum in order to save the world.

J.K. Simmons has shown across pretty much his entire storied career that he can handle different tones. He can be stern, cold, mean, or downright evil just as easily as he can be sympathetic, despondent, supportive, or loving. He draws on all these emotional states in a performance that is purely vocal here, as it would break Wes’ - and likely our - brains to look upon Ghat’s form in our world. And I have to say, J.K. Simmons makes a great eldritch deity. He’s surprisingly warm and friendly for an unknowable beast destined to smite all of existence.

Working with a slim budget, especially when tackling a concept that could lend itself to a huge one, is always going to be a challenge. Glorious is helped somewhat by its single main location, but I’m sure that was an additional challenge for director Rebekah McKendry. She makes the most of it with interesting visual asides that break up the monotony of the setting: shots focusing on details present in the bathroom like grimy surfaces, a cracked mirror, and later, blood on the tiles. These visual breathers when combined with the occasional flashback, vision, and even animated sequence help keep viewers invested in what boils down to a dialogue-heavy two-hander.

Glorious has a wildly original premise that kept me guessing, kept me off-base, and kept me smiling for its entire (relatively short) runtime. It builds to a very intense climax, both emotionally and viscerally, but in a way that feels inevitable, and not like a cheap bid for shock value. Along the way it plants seeds in your mind that you’ll be turning over in your head afterwards, all while falling firmly on the much debated spectrum of horror/comedy. Exactly where it falls is up to you.

Below I’ve included my version of a popular iceberg meme to help give you some idea of what I view as the spectrum of the horror/comedy genre. I encourage you to make your own! It’s fun!*

*Note to self: Remove this line if it is not, in fact, fun to make.