Tall Men

Well, there is a plot. There is a beginning, middle and end. And if you had to pick a genre, you would call it a horror.

Only its not scary. I'm not even sure it was trying to be. By the acting, the directing and the cinematography, you almost feel like you are watching some sort of dream. But not quite. And if the makers could have pulled that bit off properly, then it might have been a decent flick. But they didn't, and it wasn't.

It just could have been so much better. I actually like the idea, but poorly executed.

Can't describe much further without giving spoilers so will leave this review as vague as the film.

There's a good movie in here, somewhere. Unfortunately, it's shown in fits and starts between a few too many stretches of nothing. I get it, I think. The director uses pacing to try to draw us into the lead character's mundane world, adding exclamation points to all of the insanity that starts to take hold. Maybe the editor did too good a job at accentuating the mundane aspects though, since the pacing is likely to test a lot of viewers' patience.

I noticed from the crew list that the writer/director is also, yes, you guessed it, the editor. Might be a problem of wearing one too many creative hats, without another keen eye to help point out the faults. The old writer cliché of "kill your babies" when they don't work applies. Shame, since there's a lot to like here. The director's eye is interesting, with bizarre and often witty visual imagery. The story is odd and at times engrossing, when it's not left to simmer three days too long.

The cast is great too, surprisingly, for the budget of the film. They all play in an intentionally over-the-top manner that works very well. The lead, who's in almost every shot, and the rest of the bizarre characters really lift the film up, which might be easier if the editor could slice off a few hundred pounds.

I enjoyed the film since quite honestly I like weird crap. But it's not for everyone and it has nothing to do with slender-men, despite the misleading cover. I really hope the film gets another cut. Without the bloat it could maybe even be a modern cult classic. As for now, it hovers at a 6/10. Very flawed, but very interesting.

Flows much like Eraserhead.

Tried to submit but my review is to short. Too bad.

This is a low budget unconventional movie with an atmosphere of the creepy, the bizarre and the disturbing. I am surprised at the bad reviews as it certainly isn't perfect, but it makes a nice change from the endless rollout of cookie cutter samey samey horror movie fare. I liked it and savoured observing the predictable decline of the principal character, his delusions masking the true horror of what was really happening. A mild twist at the end perhaps slightly tongue in cheek. Definitely not for everyone, but comfortably occupies its niche.

A young boy invites his friend, a girl, over to his house. His mother smilingly watches them going upstairs but when they are out of sight the smile disappears and her face becomes troubled. Something happens, although we're not told what. Flash forward to when the boy is a young man, living in the same house. His mother has died and he lives there alone. Or so it would seem. We see him seated at a table. Behind him on the wall is a very strange picture, the strangeness of which alerts us that something is very wrong in this house.

First let me say that I enjoyed the film. Some might think it boring but if you just let the weirdness envelop you it becomes, as another reviewer said, hypnotic.

It's obvious the director has been heavily influenced by early David Lynch, the whole movie recycles Eraserhead right down to the same sort of background music. Clearly the Lynchian genius is missing but if you enjoy Lynch I think you'll enjoy this.

A director to watch.