User Reviews

"The Empty Man" is way better compared to the average horror movie that is released nowadays. It has a lot of good ideas, that unfortunately could not be properly developed. The result is an extremely disjointed film, that does not know what to achieve.

The intro lasts more than 20 minutes, which is quite a long time, and does not connect to the main plot until the very last minutes, so why even bother to create such a complex storyline, if it is not used more during the movie? James Lasombra, the main character is an ex cop, that experienced a big trauma and tries to cope with it. I really liked the slow burner approach, as we discover his story, building a lot of suspense and tension. This kept me glued to the screen until the very end. I really enjoyed the idea of the cult, able to summon the Empty Man, but it is not properly established: how this organization managed to call this demon? What is their story? Do they have something to do with all the deaths shown? Because nothing of this is explained, by the end I had more questions than answers. They should have developed more this aspect, because it feels that there are missing pieces. In defense of the movie I have to say that I liked the beginning and the middle sections. How the mistery is developed, the investigation around murders that unveils little by little really dark and sick secrets.

From a mere technical perspective this is a piece of art. There are no cheap jumps scares, which is good, as I am really tired of this useless technique. How the tension is built with subtle and extremely effective noises. Whoever handled camera movements, photography and lighting just nailed it. It was a while that I was not watching a horror shot in this way, with a magnificent sound design and soundtrack. Special effects are amazing and they feel realistic. Hollywood should really take some notes and release more stuff like this.

I enjoy when filmmakers tries to push boundaries and want to experiment, especially when there is a big studio behind. I think that some things are left without a resolution on purpose, so the audience can give his own interpretation about the ending. The problem is that too much is unexplained and this generate a lot of plot holes. Even with its flaws, "The Empty Man" is still a really nice film with solid acting. If you are a horror lover, please give it a chance, you might be surprised.

It's easy to see why people would dislike this. It really comes down to taste, not anything wrong with the movie.

I haven't read the graphic novels, so I'm only going to base anything I say off the movie. And I really found this to be a good blend of real myths, real philosophies, real cults, and horror tropes.

Yes, it might come across as borrowing from anything and everything, but that actually fits one of the philosophies discussed by the cult: everything is connected and is the same.

I enjoyed the score; it underpinned how scenes should be interpreted without TELLING you how to feel like many tense movies do. The lighting and camerawork helped play out the story, and the set design gave a grimeyness that made the evil seem more ancient. Good dialogue and good acting. Definitely a slow burn that takes you were you need to be.

A little bit Call of Cthulhu, a little bit Wicker Man, a little Vanilla Sky. Just a little bit of a lot of somewhat cerebral horrors. Not a fast-paced jumpscare teen slasher flick by any means.

The opening sequence is fantastic and promises so much. Everything after that felt like the movie lost its way a little.

Not a bad movie, just could've been much more.

A surreal & haunting supernatural horror that's steeped in myth & smeared with pure cosmic dread, The Empty Man is an ingeniously layered & gradually escalating nightmare that ranks amongst the most audacious horror entries in recent years. Invoking an ominous atmosphere from its opening moments and ratcheting up the suspense with terrific use of genre elements, it's a shame that this gem flew under the radar last year.

Written & directed by David Prior in his feature film debut, the film opens with a neatly crafted & downright effective prologue that paves a strong enough foundation for its main story. Prior takes his time with the premise and allows the foreboding aura to envelop the surroundings in a natural fashion and doesn't hurry through the proceedings. Its consistent scares, unsettling vibe, occult elements & existential themes further amplify our interest in it.

Adding more sinister touches to the viewing experience are its clinical camerawork, brooding score, eerie sound design, methodical editing, arresting mythology & disturbing imagery. The first half of the film is top-notch storytelling. It is in the remaining half that it begins to falter a bit and becomes entangled in its own ideas. Performances are convincing, with James Badge Dale aptly articulating his character's confusion, fear & uncertainty about his own reality.

Overall, The Empty Man brims with a menacing quality, is unrelenting in its intensity, and has all the makings of a cult classic, something it is destined to become in the years to come. An impressive start to David Prior's feature filmmaking career, his debut feature exhibits his firm grip on elements of horror & mystery and is anything but an empty cinematic experience. It's the studio's fault that they couldn't figure out how to market this ambitious ontological terror but sooner or later, The Empty Man will find its audience.

I found this to be a Brilliant horror movie, I found it extremely creepy, the big skeleton at the beginning gave me the shivers, no it's not a movie full of cheap jump scares so if that's what your looking for dont bother, it has a slowly creeping sense of dread, dont want to ruin it for anyone but go into it with an open mind as I did, seen some bad reviews for this from critics saying its boring, each to their own I guess, but I personally highly recommend! Hidden gem!

This movie got absolutely reemed by the Disney acquisition of Fox. They had no idea what they had and how to market it and so it was pushed out late last year with a dumb poster and a misleading trailer that makes it out to be a Slender Man knock off. There are elements of that but then things get really weird. This is cosmic / Lovecraftian horror at it's finest and deserves to be seen by a lot more people. I really can't say more than that but if you like the sound of weird nihilistic cults this is for you. I really hope brand new writer/ director David Prior gets to make more stuff.

5 empty bridge bottles out of 5

I went into The Empty Man not knowing anything about it. It was dumped out of nowhere and by the looks of the trailer I figured why. It seemed like a teen horror in the vein of countdown, truth or dare, or even bye bye man. But after the first twenty minutes of this film, I knew I was in for something much different. There is some truly chilling scenes in here, and the atmosphere just adds to the sense of dread. Now the climax of the film does get a bit clunky, but I imagine with this being based on a comic series, it's a lot more flushed out there, but even with an almost 2 1/2 hour run time, it felt like more was needed to be explained. Overall I came out of the empty man not feeling empty at all. It deserves an audience.

There should be so much to like about this movie, and how the director managed to create the incoherent mess it became is a mystery. It is disjointed and wandering. The first 20 minutes are interesting, in the mountains etc, then snap! New location with no apparent connection, which immediately disconnects you from the film. Then it starts to build into an interesting urban myth/bogeyman movie. Then snap! Changes its mind to an earth ending Lovecraftian plot. The plot could have made sense if told with some sort of flow, but it became so disjointed, by the end I really didn't care.

... and I'd like to thank him. I would have never looked for it on HBO Max and I would have never stuck with it for the 2 1/2 hour running time if he hadn't reviewed it on his youtube channel as being something worth watching. If a Blu came out of it I would definitely buy it, but I would be so disappointed if there was not a commentary. If you go to Chris' review about this film there is a link to an interview with the filmmaker.

So this thing is almost a miracle. It was the last thing that Fox did before they were absorbed into Disney like the blob. As Chris points out, there's lots of money up there on the screen. In a global pandemic year a large studio gave a first time filmmaker a bunch of money and said "go make your vision". Disney would have never allowed this to be made because there are no light sabers in it. But I digress.

So Empty Man has a 25 minute prologue set in 1995 which is horrific enough that seemingly has nothing to do with the other 2 hours of the film and that just suddenly ends. The two hour part of the film after the prologue is set in Missouri in 2018 and the action is set in motion by a teenage girl going missing. Ex detective James LaSombra is a friend of the girl's mother, and so he goes looking for her after he and her mother determine the police will probably do nothing.

He encounters what appears to be a religious cult, and suicides by teens who were not depressed or in trouble with the words about The Empty Man written nearby.

This is almost a silent film. The dialogue is minimalist. And if you are looking for all of the answers of what transpired you are not going to get them. It is beautifully shot and does a great job of building tension. And don't think that some of the dialogue is cartoonish as others have said. For example, LaSombra keeps saying to the strange people he encounters that he gets it, that he is from San Francisco. It makes sense that somebody who is nervous and having their concept of reality challenged would revert to something that grounds them - like saying where they are from.

I would highly recommend this one, just realize you are probably going to need to watch it twice to pick up on everything. I think this thing is headed towards cult classic territory.

Be warned. This one will suck you in right from the start. You then sit through 2+ hours of an abduction mystery that culminates in... jack squat. This is the definition of pretentious folks. A long pretty show that has nothing of interest at the end. The filmmakers will have you til the end and it just goes nowhere. I was shocked at how interesting it was til it just wasn't.

Hard to determine if this was a good movie or if I even liked it because I had no clue what was actually happening.

When I saw that 'The Empty Man' was going to be 137 minutes long it had a little reluctant to go to it. The reason is that if a horror movie isn't good then even a 90 minute runtime can be an absolute drag. It's a real gamble for a film in that genre to be anywhere near two hours, let alone well past it. I usually try to avoid trailers for movies before I see them but on this occasion I did happen to catch it. It didn't fill me with confidence. Luckily the trailer is actually a little misleading, and the film actually has quite a different feel to it. Even though I wouldn't say I loved this movie by any means, it did have enough going on to keep it watchable for that runtime - just.

The first thing I have to say is that the film is beautifully shot. There were a number of expertly crafted shots throughout the film, but one tracking shot from a map that turns into a forest and then finds its way down to a car driving through it was truly exquisite. I love that the artistic touches Ari Aster fills his films with are starting to inspire other directors.

The second thing that occurs to me is that isn't really a horror movie, or at least not solely a horror movie. Apparently it is based on a comic series which are more like dark detective stories. That's kind of the vibe I got here and why I think this was able to survive a 137 minute push. It isn't just a case of passing from character to character and watching a new and inventive way for them to die. In fact the film is very rarely scary. I say that more in the sense that it doesn't actually try to be scary all that often, however when it does try it rarely hits the mark either sadly.

If you're a fan of ASMR then you are likely going to have a good time with this film. There is a lot of it in the film and it is a pleasure to listen to (although it can be a risk to have you dozing off). I have a very middling opinion on this film. I neither hated it nor loved it. I wouldn't recommend people go out of their way to see it, but if they were going to see it I certainly wouldn't dissuade them either. Don't be too put off by the trailer is all I would say. It is not an accurate representation of the film.

Such a promising start and such a silly ending ... And the film has unique potential and the idea was good, but without developing on the theme of "crazy teenagers". The creature itself was unique, the beginning scary, the ideas fell somewhere in the plot...

Rarely you see a film that you cant stop thinking about for days after watching. This movie doesn't rely on jump scares for horror but builds on dread and ambiguity with some amazing visuals and music. It is difficult to describe or compare this to any other film as it combines multiple genres. The film is a sort of a 2000ish detective story with Lovecraftian horror elements in it. For people interested in philosophy and psychology, this film is truly a treat.

I'm mainly giving this 5/10 Because of how good the start was, It would be lower if not for the amazing start. The rest of the movie wasn't my cup of tea. My favorite actor/actress in this movie was Marin Ireland, Her nuanced portrayal of her character's struggles and fears is captivating, and her performance is a standout in the movie. "The Empty Man" starts off with a bang, drawing viewers in with a tense and captivating opening sequence. The first 20 minutes are a masterclass in horror filmmaking, with great cinematography and a haunting score that sets the mood perfectly. Unfortunately, the rest of the movie fails to live up to the promise of its beginning. The plot becomes muddled and convoluted, with too many twists and turns that fail to come together cohesively. While the movie raises some intriguing philosophical ideas, it never fully explores them, leaving the audience feeling unsatisfied. Despite its flaws, "The Empty Man" has some standout moments, particularly in its impressive visual effects and creative world-building.

Original, suspenseful slow burner based on the rarely broached egragore. Intelligently exposed jigsaw piece of a thriller barely marketed at all. Could become a cult movie given time.

I did enjoy The Empty Man for several reasons. First of all I never get "scared" by a horror movie, so for me to enjoy it is to see my wife being scared, which I find entertaining and funny. She got scared with this movie, and that's mostly due to the excellent soundtrack and effects, that made this movie suspenseful. Visually it was pretty basic but like said before the sound, which is always very important, if not the most important thing for a horror movie, was on top. The acting wasn't bad and that from the whole cast. The plot was something new, not a frequent subject in the horror genre, so that was refreshing. Overal The Empty Man is certainly worth a watch, if you like the "strange" then evenmore.

First 20mins of this I was like... Yes! Ancient weird skeleton shrines and possessed people in the middle of nowhere! Then it turns into a completely different film! I had to check I was still watching the same film! Completely switched off and started pottering about the house it was that boring. I love horror, I love weird in depth horror, but this... Don't bother wasting your time.

I was afraid this was going to be one long, boring horror movie. It turned out to be just the opposite. It was riveting from the beginning till the end. A far cry from a typical scary movie. The story appears to be non-linear at times due to the flashbacks that slowly give hints that nothing is as it seems. The way the narrative plays out reminds me a lot of the movie Hereditary. If you don't have any idea about Tibetan mysticism the movie might be confusing you. It was well done, good cinematography, quality editing job and the great use of music painted the whole thing with a sense of often impalpable unease and eeriness. Maybe it leaves some questions half answered, but that only adds to its mind twisting quality. In the end I really liked the movie bcs it left me with an unsettling, head scratching aftertaste.