[MacBlayne]

THE EMPTY MAN

Wow!

The opening twenty minutes to David Prior's The Empty Man is some of the greatest horror you will ever see. Thrilling, widescreen visuals (and I mean widescreen), unsettling imagery, creepy sound effects, and a nerve-wracking soundtrack.

You're probably expecting me to say, "shame about the rest of the film," but no, as The Empty Man is a very strong horror film. It plays out like a Lovecraftian detective story, in which a former cop, James. is asked to track down some missing teenagers. One of the teenager's friends tells him she last saw them when they spoke about a demon known as the Empty Man. As James investigates further, he finds himself tangled in a conspiracy involving a pseudo-science cult, medical cover-ups, and his own tragic past - all of which make reference to the Empty Man.

Despite the two-hour plus runtime, The Empty Man is a tense experience that never lets up. Prior's use of detective motifs lets the horrors unveil at a gradual pace, and provides plenty of taut chases and stand-offs. The film cakes every scene with a thick layer of dread that it almost becomes unbearable to watch.

SPOILER:

My only issue with the film is the ending. Not the revelation itself, but how it is presented. Prior tries aping Shyamalan by using quick flashbacks to reveal it was all fake, but I think this causes some plot holes. My understanding that many of the earlier scenes did not happen, but we thought they did as we were in James's shoes. But the flashbacks inform us that they did happen, only they are recontextualised. This may not be Prior's fault, however. The film was a casualty of Disney's takeover of 20th Century Fox. Disney pulled the workprint from Prior before he was finished, and re-edited to 90 minutes. Test screenings were very negative, and so Disney just dumped the 137 minute workprint into cinemas. Prior is on record saying he wanted to remove 10-15 minutes.

The Empty Man is a bone-chilling horror that, despite pinching from noir and cosmic horror, feels fresh and original. There's not much like it nowadays. If anything, the opening is worth the price of rental. It's as perfect as films get.

WARNING: The Empty Man was shot 2.39:1 aspect ratio. The widescreen image is extremely important to this film. I bring this up, because I paid for it through Google Play, and it was 2.39:1. I recommended it to a friend, who used a different streaming service that played it at 1.78:1 aspect ratio. I checked a few torrents afterwards, and they were all 1.78:1. We all know that it's best to pay for stuff like this, but Disney are effectively burying this film despite a growing cult following. They refuse to do a physical release. Some of my friends are unable to find a version of this to watch that isn't a torrent. I don't mind how you watch it, just make sure it is the correct aspect ratio.