The Empty Man

The Empty Man is an admirably sprawling affair with great creative ambition, confounding most conventional audience expectations. The question though, is does it all go somewhere? David Prior would obviously very much like to be the next Ari Aster, but he is no match for him just yet, and he perhaps bit off more than he could chew. It is however an interesting movie to analyze, technically very well made, engaging up to the last quarter, and completely free of cheap modern horror props like self-indulgent violence and jump scares (thumbs up for that), but in the last quarter just was not comprehensible, or maybe it simply tried too hard to sell the illusion of profoundness, which just wasn't there. (17/05/2021)

The trailer touted a straightforward, many-times-seen teenage horror flick about a group kids who summon a supernatural being that will go on to cut them down one by one, and the generic name made me expect the same. Really, a monster called “Empty Man” that is summoned if you blow into an empty bottle? That’s almost funny. But this film is something completely different than it would have seemed from the marketing. My initial expectations were raised a little by the name of the director, who’s already made a very good and atmospheric short. But then it was the insane 137 minute runtime. We hardly ever see anything that long in horror, it would have to be something truly monumental and epic for the producers to greenlight it. David Prior really tries to make something ambitious (how many horror films have a 20 minute intro?), but for his feature debut he bit more than he could chew. An idea, a climax and a good atmosphere here and there – there is that, but it’s not enough. Reviewers on Rotten Tomatoes and IMDb (and soon here, too) say that it’s an empty film, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. This film has actually way too much and it doesn’t hold together – it’s like three films in one! In the end I kind of liked it and it’s a pity that it wasn’t better. And yesterday I was still thinking that I would bash it with gusto. (23/12/2020)

The Empty Man made it to American theaters, so fortunately it's not a cheap film, but I'm rather hesitant about it. It has an excellent prologue that nicely builds up anticipation, but after that, not much interesting happens. The problem is its running time. 137 minutes for a horror film is unbearable, someone went a bit overboard with the minutes, and it greatly affects the pace of the film, which is very, very slow. It's interesting that the film takes a different direction than it initially seems, but I would rather see a supernatural entity killing teenagers in an interesting way, than watching the protagonist wandering back and forth. It does improve a bit in the finale, where there is an interesting climax, but that the film is actually more of a mysterious crime thriller, as it has very few horror elements. I wouldn't recommend it, but if you enjoy mysterious films, you can give it a chance. Story***, Action>No, Humor>No, Violence*, Entertainment**, Music***, Visuals***, Atmosphere***, Tension**. 5/10. (29/12/2020)

The Empty Man is a very ambitious attempt to elevate a teenage horror theme to the level of an adult crime thriller with a mysterious, almost existentially philosophical bent. But it doesn’t quite succeed. The long exposition wouldn’t be a problem if it didn’t deal with the banal motifs of teenage horror. The revealing of the cult background would be intriguing if the key “prayer” phrases were not semantically transparent nonsense. And the final unveiling of all of the truths could have given it all meaning and weight if everything that came before had worked and if the key to understanding the human side of the main character had not been such a superficial event. A contradiction, confirming absolute creative disorientation, with flimsy shades of It Follows and Midsommar. P.S. Why was the cult’s building shaped like the Scientologist’s LA headquarters? (13/08/2021)

I'm not sure if I got the point of this right, but what the hell, since it's exactly for that oppressive feeling of evil that accompanied me throughout the movie that I like to go to the movie theater a couple of times a year to get good and scared by a good horror movie. Despite the long running time I was not bored at all, so I don't have much to criticize, although the denouement itself didn't quite satisfy me. The road to it, however, was nutritious and appropriately psychotic. Especially considering the unbelievable coincidence of the main character James Lasombra waking up from his nightmares at four minutes past three due to eerie sounds, while I, wrapped in a blanket, was just glancing at the digital alarm clock in my room, which was showing the exact same time! I was paralyzed with fear at that moment. (80%) (09/02/2023)