The Tall Man

The Tall Man is an unusual thriller from Pascal Laugier, that was intriguing, unique and a bit lacking. Laugier is a great writer and director, there is no question about that as he is responsible for Martyrs, which is a masterpiece and my second favorite horror film after The Exorcist.

But that is him at his best, it's unquestionably his peak as a filmmaker and evidence that he knows exactly how to create a compelling story and how to implement twists in a way that you would never see them coming but yet are a natural progression to the story, and The Tall Man has a massive one but it doesn't entirely work and that's a problem because the success of the whole film rests on it.

Don't get me wrong, like his other films this movie is poetically written but It's all a bit too unbelievable in the end. The first hour builds nicely, the inciting incident is that Jessica Biel's character is trying to find the man or monster that has abducted her son.

The figure in question is known only as the illusive title, "The Tall Man", the mystique created around this character in the first hour is quite well put together but then the film gets messy, not so much that you lose interest because what is happening is so out of left field that you can't help but be curious as to what will happen next.

But then the final reveal and explanation probably worked on paper but not in execution. He is asking too much of the audience while giving them too little of a justification . Suspension of disbelief is one thing but ridiculousness , albeit poetically worded and framed ridiculousness another.

Overall, i think it has an interesting premise and i didn't hate it,
but it is a bit hollow and he's capable of far better than this.