“Gramma” takes place entirely in the home of Georgie, an eleven-year-old who is left alone to take care of his sick grandmother while his mother goes to the hospital. Georgie, played by “The NeverEnding Story” and “D.A.R.Y.L.” star Barret Oliver, is eager to accept grown up responsibilities. “I’m not six anymore,” he says. “I’m eleven! I’m cool!” But when he finally finds himself alone in the house with his Gramma, he suddenly wishes he was anywhere else.
When Gramma, voiced from the other room by the late Piper Laurie (who previously earned an Oscar-nomination for her role in the first-ever Stephen King movie, “Carrie”), calls out for her tea in a sickly, ominous voice, Georgie gets her tea ready and accidentally spills it next to her bed. He sees the tea sink into the floorboards, as if there was an empty space beneath them, and while Gramma is sleeping he opens it up and finds the Necronomicon — a book of ancient rites and evil spells, invented by H.P. Lovecraft and used as a helpful plot device by horror storytellers ever since — and shudders as she cries out the names of ancient gods like Yog-Sothoth and Cthulhu.
Georgie has nobody to talk to, so the majority of the dialogue in “Gramma” takes place inside his head, as he debates what to do about the scary old woman, and remembers his mother arguing with her siblings about who should take care of the her. His uncle blamed Gramma for a “trail of evil” that included burning down houses, dogs fed with human meat, and children born with no fingers.
And this is who mom left Georgie alone with. Sheesh.