There was a reddit post, as there always is, that turned me onto this movie. Someone said “The Empty Man is underrated”. The first comment was “Go into it without any information”. So I said- ok. Seems promising. I didn’t think, I just did. I told two people that I was watching this movie. When it ended, both people asked me how it was. To both people I said, “shut up. I’m still figuring this out.”
And I gotta say. I am having a hard time placing this film. It is… complicated… to say the least.
2020’s The Empty Man is billed as a “cosmic horror” on wikipedia. I categorize it as a “supernatural god horror detective mystery”. What I would normally categorize as a shit film is complicated by a gripping mystery, teasingly sparse yet effective horror, and some really fucking good direction. The film boasts an unreasonable ‘creepy’ factor, but maintains, almost stubbornly, a detective tale about a missing girl.
The protagonist, played by James Badge Dale, is swallowed into conspiracy and creepiness as he struggles to find his neighbor’s daughter, a girl who shows him singular empathy following her familial tragedy and his own. It’s a classic setup with an unfortunately drawn-out middle act. And that’s nothing compared to the opening sequence preceding the title card.
Along the way, sandwiched between truly chilling horror sequences, we’re bogged down by a sidewinding cult, a long-drawn and arguably poorly-edited mystery, and a ridiculous amount of exposition that really hammers in a specific philosophy. The middle of the film drags on as it crawls through a cult that ends up being bigger than it seems on the surface. What was a teen horror flick turns into a complex conspiracy backed by supernatural entities swaying dozens, if not hundreds, of people into doing its bidding.
A lot of people will discuss the opening sequence, wherein a group of hikers are haunted and subsequently dispatched by some supernatural entity. It’s a gripping opening, and convinced me that that was what the movie was going to be about, ala The Descent. Instead, once the sequence ends, we’re then subject to a detective mystery, ala Longlegs or Silence of the Lambs.
Without spoiling the ending, the film takes twists of its own, and I’m not convinced that they’re earned. The philosophical entendres of the middle act feel far too saturated and obvious to make an impact on an emotional level by the end of the film. The constant and unreleased tension washes out the action of the climax. While the direction and cinematography are unique and notable, I felt that the ending was flat and unremarkable.
Ironically, therein lies the conundrum. Does the mystery outweigh the horror? Does the direction outweigh the writing? Does the originality outweigh the boring? What was this film meant to be? What were we meant to feel or take away? Was the twist and ending profound enough? Was the inspired and unique direction considerable enough to trump its amateurity? Is it acceptable that the tone was volatile and jarring? Should we base our opinion on this film based on its genre? And worse yet, was Longlegs actually any good?
I think this film fares squarely within
YMMV
Though I am assured that some viewers will be awestruck by this film- cinephiles and casual viewers alike. At the same time, I am absolutely certain that individuals of those same demographics will find this film abhorrent, tedious, and flat.
The Empty Man has a terrible preview on Hulu, and is also available on Fubo and AppleTV.
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