The Empty Man (movie 2020)... tap into what scares you

​      I’ve only just began reading Cullen Bunn in graphic novel form and wasn’t sure I was a fan, having found my first read to be somewhat young and way too drawn out for my liking, but this movie is definitely for adults. And no, I’m not saying it’s all X rated and covered in gore, guts and boobs the way one might associate with adult minded genre productions. I’m saying this is a smart scary movie geared toward mature audience aka people who don’t mind the slow boiling pace and the general bleakness and the creeping unease that measuredly rolls down right to the terrifying resolution.
     And to think it might have been just another take on the creepy mythos come to life. Something that was so ubiquitous in the 90s and not as much since.  The eponymous being is an abstract, something wished by concentrated mind and seemingly random but  specific actions. So the concept is simple and the concept is familiar, but the overall production is so much more.
    This delicious claustrophobic nightmare begins with its ambiance set all the way up on the creepometer by a hiking adventure in Bhutan that goes horribly wrong. A very long, very atmospheric opening sequence that sets up the mood of the story. Then it forwards back in time a couple of decades and takes you all the way to Missouri, a seemingly arbitrary location since no one sounds or acts or looks especially Missourian. Our lead played with subtlety and restraint by James Badge Dale is a former cop turned security equipment salesmen who drinks heavily to forget an unforgettable tragedy.  The man lives a solitary quiet lifestyle, but he is friendly with his neighbor and her 18 year old daughter and the latter (after an ominous visit) disappears.
    Since she is legally an adult and since the local cops aren’t likely to do much, our protagonist decides to dust off his investigating chops and find her himself. The journey he embarks on to do so with change his life forever.
    And that’s it, probably, I don’t think I can say much more without giving away crucial plot aspects and with a plot like this you really are in for a twist or two. Suffice it to say this entire thing involves a mysterious cult. See, me, I’d have been sold right there. Cult stories are awesome.  But this…this takes it many, many steps further.
    So yeah, I liked it. A lot. It was exactly the kind of scary movie I enjoy, a smart dark psychological nightmare.  The smart thing, though, doesn’t go over so well with the public at large hence this movie’s negative reviews and low box office totals. This is more of a collector’s item, cult classic, something like that. Something for the discerning audiences.
     I watched it in the same week as Freaky 2020. Another genre movie, dumb as they come and totally teen oriented, that did well and gathered good reviews. So dumb definitely sells in these increasingly stupid times we live in.  But you and I…we’re not dumb, are we? We want more out of our entertainment that cheap laughs and silly gags. We want well written scripts that prey on the most profound fears and well acted stories that (safely) take you away to the darkest corners of the night.  And so we look for movies like this one. And then enjoy them. In the dark.