PLOT: Dark, long-buried secrets are brought back to the surface when the deeply troubled Graham family is reunited.

REVIEW: Directed by Vincent Grashaw, What Josiah Saw is a fascinating film. Even though it deals with very dark subject matter and is populated with some awful people, you might find that you can’t tear your eyes away from it. Not even when it erupts into violence or shows you terrible things you’d rather not have seen. That’s because Grashaw brought the story crafted by first-time screenwriter Robert Alan Dilts to the screen with an unsettling atmosphere that envelops you while you’re watching the movie, and assembled an incredible cast to bring Dilts’ deeply troubled characters to life.

At the center of the story is the Graham farm out on Willow Road, a place that has a bad history going back decades. It was home to the Josiah of the title, a miserable and abusive alcoholic played by Robert Patrick, his wife Miriam, and their three children: Eli, Mary, and Tommy. One day, Miriam skipped church and was found hanging from the oak tree that stands in front of the house. Locals say that her ghost can be seen wandering the property at night. That may or may not be true, but what we quickly find out for certain is that Josiah is still a scumbag decades after his wife’s death. In present day, he and the simple-minded Tommy (Scott Haze) are the only Graham family members still living in the old farmhouse… and the life they have together is not pleasant.

What Josiah Saw is separated into chapters, each one adding different Grahams into the story. The film begins with Josiah and Tommy, and for the first thirty minutes it’s almost just a two-man show with Patrick and Haze doing incredible work in their roles as we watch these strange, lonely guys bounce off each other. Now, the first thing we hear Josiah say he saw is a six-inch-tall leprechaun standing out in the field, crapping a rainbow. But that is, unfortunately, not the sight mentioned in the title. What Josiah Saw actually references a vision he is struck by one night: a vision that informs him his long-lost wife is burning in Hell, and will continue to do so until he and Tommy straighten out their ways and right a great wrong. Before we get information on what exactly Josiah thinks they need to fix, we move on to the next chapter, where we meet Eli.

Eli’s chapter gets the most screen time, and goes off on such a tangent – one involving a kidnapped child, a traveling carnival, and cursed gold – that it almost makes the movie start to feel like an anthology. But this twisted solo adventure we follow Eli on is so interesting, it doesn’t feel frustrating to be so far away from the main story at the Graham farm. Eli is played by Nick Stahl, an actor who had a shot at the big time but then saw his career collapse due to addiction issues. Now Stahl is sober and making a comeback – and his real-life back story made him the perfect choice to play Eli, a paroled convict dealing with substance abuse issues much like the ones Stahl endured. Stahl has had rough times, and Eli is still neck-deep in his rough times.

Then it’s time to meet Mary (Kelli Garner), who is going through the process of adopting a child with her husband Ross (Tony Hale). But Mary’s suburban life isn’t as picture perfect as she would like to make it appear. It’s clear that her mental health issues are rooted in something that happened back at the farm she and her siblings grew up at… and there was more going on there than the devastating loss of Miriam. The sins of the past start to become clearer to the viewer once Eli shows up at Mary’s house. All of the siblings have been sent letters from an oil company that is interested in buying the Graham property on Willow Road. And they’re all going to have to get together at the old farmhouse to discuss this offer. Of course, things don’t go well when the Grahams are reunited. This is one of those movies where you know from the start that we’re heading toward disaster. We’re just hanging on to see exactly how bad and gut-wrenching it’s going to get.

What Josiah Saw has its share of issues. With a two hour running time, it feels like Grashaw and Dilts were being a bit too self-indulgent at times. It definitely could have been trimmed down a little bit. It also doles out information in such a way that you might not have all the facts clear by the time the end credits start rolling. But even if the ending isn’t entirely satisfying, and even if the movie takes longer getting there than it needed to, the overall story is so intriguing (and troubling) and the performances are so strong, the film still holds up as a great achievement for everyone involved. Dilts has gotten his screenwriting career off to a terrific start, and we’re almost certain to see more notable works from Grashaw in the future.

I was disturbed by a lot of things in this dark drama / psychological horror story, but I was also really impressed by What Josiah Saw. This one is definitely worth checking out – and I will be watching it again.

What Josiah Saw is being released through the Shudder streaming service on August 4th.