The Tall Man
2012105 minutes
rated R
by Scott Mendelson
At its best, writer/director Pascal Laugier's The Tall Man is an examination of our expectations when it comes to the horror genre. It almost playfully plays with our knowledge of the cliches and the templates, telling what seems to be a conventional story while slowly pulling the rug out from under us. While the picture is not a complete success, and while it intrigues and unnerves more than it explicitly frightens, it earns points for telling a story right up to its climax. This is not a film that runs out of narrative by the 2/3 mark and descends into an action sequence or a violent spectacle, but rather a slow-burn drama that holds some of its cards as long as possible. It's a cliche/generic pull-quote to say that a movie 'keeps you guessing to the end', but it applies in this case (as an objective fact more so than an exclamation).
