A Gray State

It was said that "this story gets you, you can't wash it off..." Haunting. It's the only word to describe A Gray State. The story of a family slowly going off the rails is well laid-out, even if it's tragically predictable.

It's a dark ride into the dark recesses of madness, in real time, as documented by the insane person. Yeah, okay that sounds fun. A modern retelling of The Shining, only it's non-fiction.

From the onset, you get the details of an family everyone envies, a supportive wife, wonderful daughter and charismatic and driven father. The entire family seems to be involved in the making of a feature film, it has momentum and real progress. Behind the scenes is a family - a father and his decent into madness. As an ex soldier in Afghanistan, he details his experiences and the trauma slowly reveals itaelf as the story unfolds. What makes it predictable is that the family is so idyllic - there *must* be something wrong - and tit's laid out painstakingly with meaningful interviews with people that knew the family.

The filmmakers lay it out methodically and it seems to only heighten the sense of dread, the doom that's coming.

The story itself is so compelling and captivating that I had done my own research into these events after watching this. The material is ideal soil for the conspiracies to take root. It's a sad, misguided distraction and only takes away from the dreadful conclusion.

David Crowley carefully orchestrated and crafted his life, his exit was his final act and very calculated - complete with its own soundtrack.

Must watch - but be prepared to be affected by this for a while...