A dark, foreboding mansion, cloistered away from suspicious eyes. A family full of secrets and motivations. Visions of the afterlife; ghosts, whether real or imagined. An interloper who becomes an unwitting pawn. The Gothic horror story, like all genres, has some indelible tropes that can create tension and feelings of uncertainty amongst viewers. Writer/Director Paris Zarcilla takes these plot points and throws them into a blender with themes of colonialism, race and class to create a fascinating and heartbreaking portrayal of undocumented workers.

Joy (Max Eigenmann) is a single mother trying to scrounge enough money to create stability for her young daughter Grace (Jaeden Paige Boadilla) as well as pay exorbitant amounts for a visa so they can stay in England. In a brief montage early in the film, Zarcilla establishes the lines defining the rich white people Joy serves, and Joy’s small closet of a room and daily tribulations. When her rich clients are out of town, Joy sneaks Grace into their homes so they have a place to stay. This trick leads her to the home of Mr. Garrett (David Hayman), an old man, bedridden and slowly dying from cancer. He’s looked after by his haughty niece Katherine (Leanne Best) who roughly forces copious amounts of pills down his throat because she doesn’t have the patience to do it correctly.

After being purposefully vague, Katherine believes Joy is the new help and hires her on the spot to be her own personal assistant. Joy is to clean, provide general upkeep and cook food. Already, the tension starts between the two as Katherine clarifies their dietary restrictions, telling Joy, “we eat simply in this house. Nothing exotic.” In other words, bland white people food. Katherine doesn’t know Joy has a child and most of the early tension in the film comes from Joy’s attempt to hide the squirrelly and mischievous Grace from Katherine.

As these things do, Grace and Joy begin to discover the immense history surrounding the estate and the dying old man that begins to suggest something sinister is happening in this house.

At a certain point, Mr. Garrett takes a more prominent role in the narrative and things get more complicated and tense. Raging Grace’s narrative twists and turns, adding more intrigue as it gives Gothic tropes a new spin. While the story is mostly rooted from Joy’s perspective, it, at times, veers into Grace’s curious eyes to further expand on themes of trauma and PTSD. Grace is a precocious child who enjoys pranking people, but she’s also just a child who has been hidden away from the world. She wants her own bed and her autonomy, but Joy is forced to hide her away from the world. A young girl who thinks her father is dead and is shipped from place to place, forced to be quiet and unseen, Raging Grace is as much a coming of age story for the mischievous young girl as it is a Gothic horror story of oppression and desperation.

Director Paris Zarcilla has called his story a “coming of rage” story and that description is perfect for Joy, a woman who has been abused by systems of power in the UK as well as by Grace’s father. Because she’s been discounted, overlooked and seen as “less than” for so long, Joy doesn’t seem to appreciate her own strength. At one point, we see her working with medical equipment and realize that she has skills that are overlooked by everyone…including herself. The Joy we meet at the beginning of Raging Grace is a shadow of her former self and its through this trial by fire that she finds the ember of rage and self-acceptance she desperately needs. The final scene of the movie brought tears to my eyes.

As a horror film, Raging Grace is a mixed bag of fake-out jump scares as Grace has an almost preternatural ability to appear right behind someone (often with a musical stinger) and dream sequences. As the film progresses, the horror becomes a little more pronounced but it’s never a truly frightening experience. Eigenmann’s performance as Joy carries the film and Zarcilla’s perspective and intentions help propel the narrative when the horror aspects feel lacking. Ultimately, Raging Grace is a solid addition to the world of Gothic Horror and a perspective needed in this genre.