The Empty Man

The Empty Man est une œuvre admirablement hardie,avec de vastes ambitions créatrices et qui a de quoi bouleverser les attentes habituelles du public. Mais où est-ce que tout ça aboutit ? On dirait que David Prior veut être le nouveau Ari Aster, mais il lui faudrait alors plus de cordes à son arc et là, il a peut-être eu les yeux plus grands que le ventre. Certes, le film est intéressant si on le passe sous la loupe, très bien filmé sur le plan technique et aux trois quarts passionnant et dépourvu d’astuces horrifiques modernes cheap comme la violence gratuite ou les jump scares tonitruants (bravo pour la prouesse !), mais dans le dernier quart, soit quelque chose m’a échappé, soit il tente de donner l’illusion d’un concept plus profond qui en est en réalité absent. (17/05/2021)

Une tentative très ambitieuse d’élever un thème d’horreur pour adolescents au rang de thriller policier pour adultes avec une connotation mystérieuse, presque existentiellement philosophique. Mais pas très réussi. La longue exposition n'aurait pas eu d'importance si elle ne fonctionnait pas avec les motifs banals de ce film d'horreur pour adolescents. La révélation du contexte sectaire s’éterniserait si les phrases clés de la « prière » n’avaient pas un sens évident et absurde. Et la révélation finale de toutes les vérités aurait pu donner sens et poids à tout cela, si tout avait fonctionné auparavant, et si la clé pour comprendre le côté humain du personnage principal n'avait pas constitué un événement si primaire. Une contradiction qui confirme une désorientation créative absolue, avec les nuances fragiles de It Follows et Midsommar. P.S. : Pourquoi le bâtiment de la secte a-t-il la forme de la base de Scientologie de Los Angeles ? (13/08/2021)

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 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)

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)