The Empty Man (Prior, 2020)

I haven't seen The Leftovers and maybe it's bc of the 137m runtime but I did think this could've been a series... Not unlike Marianne on Netflix, eight episodes or something. It's based on continuing comic books so there ya go and I have to say, when the movie ended I wanted more. That's sort of a good thing but then again it doesn't feel very finished. Maybe they were looking to sequels - why not? But the Fox-Disney merger troubled that, delaying its release (it began production in 2016) - and yes, it's technically a Disney horror, though it's more like a New Line horror (where the bigger Blumhouse go to bloom) or.... since A Cure for Wellness was brought up, something Gore Verbinski might've made - it's like The Ring in some ways. It also steals or at least reminded me of Shutter Island a lot. And a little bit in its off-investigating some of The Ghost Writer and Dragon Tattoo.

Speak of the devil, the editor-writer-director David Prior is a "friend and protege" of Fincher and spent his career pretty much following him making the behind the scenes stuff for Blu releases. He didn't do a single interview for this movie apparently, which is annoying.

For a debut, it's skillfully atmospheric and thrives in scenes with less dialogue, like the bonfire chase. Script is a problem here - eyerolling dialogue with an overwritten narrative that needed to be simplified or continued. But I actually think, hell, there are enough good scenes here to warrant a watch. James Badge Dale is solid in the lead... and I like Marin Ireland and Stephen Root who pop up. (Hated whoever played Amanda, gotta recast that.)

They shot this on a Red Monstro 8k camera which has only been used a few times in narrative projects, like Hunters and Stranger Things. I think as a series it could've followed some of the characters that they toss away (like the high school sauna girl), delve more into the growth of the cult, the lead's backstory, and the befuddling metaphysical questions.

Best line of the movie isn't even from the movie; The Robe (1953) is playing on a background tv at some point and you can hear one say "He said god is coming...." and another reply, "Which god?"

The final 10 minutes brought it down but daaaamn, I liked this. There is a lot of care in the imagery, atmosphere and pacing, and that prologue could have been an awesome short movie itself! James Badge Dale is a total stud

6+ / 10 -

Has a LOT of pacinoyes things in it - I too have stared into the abyss, I too read On The Road, I love references to "Nothing" - like "if you said "Nothing", that's something I'd understand" as Westerberg said in "When It Began" .......or "I'm not using Nothing" as Townes Van Zandt sang in, um, "Nothin"........

But this movie's intriguing parts don't match it's totality of effect.......it's less than the sum of its parts.......some of the best scenes are the weirder ones (the nurse giving away the "patients" personal info was creepy af)

Side note: pacinoyes may make his own version of this called "The Empty Beer Can Man" about a smart ass guy who's been heroically drunk for several days now and there's empty beer cans.............everywhere.............

This gave me MAJOR Indigo Prophecy (aka Fahrenheit, if you're not from North America) vibes. I haven't played that game in well over a decade, but the tone of investigating an uncaring and unknowable cosmos where there be monsters is TOTALLY the Indigo Prophecy jam. This doesn't make one lick of sense, but it is so refreshingly its own thing, and treats itself completely seriously. I got swept away in its confidence.