Director: David Prior.
The Empty Man is a multi genre film. I really enjoyed watching it and it feels like a breeze of fresh air in the contemporary Hollywood film market. The film sets terms and expectations in a short story at the beginning. I expected to watch a slasher movie but as the film developed I was surprised it transitioned into a teenage horror and after that into a detective story and after that into a demonic-cult horror, and after that into a family drama and coming to terms with trauma. The horror elements in the film are working well. My favorite type of horror is when the protagonist wins by loosing everything. The only criticism I have is that I believe it could have affected my emotions better if the background trauma story of the protagonist would have been more developed throughout the 2nd act of the film. The sound design and score are excellent and I enjoy listening to it very much. I also really liked the monster design (the skeleton one) and wanted to see more of it. The dark shadow monster was not as good unfortunately. Overall, it's a wonderful film, not perfect, but well worth your time.
There are many more great things about this film: the anamorphic cinematography, use of symbolism and dreamscapes, acting and cinematic language. but that's a little too much for this little blog :-)
A quote from the director David Prior: "Genre's ultimate mean value is the way you can talk about fundamental deep important human stuff without being pretentious. It's almost like a proof against self importance or pomposity."
update:
The 2nd screening of The Empty Man was much more enjoyable and horrifying than the 1st one.
I would recommend to watch this film multiple times. A basic research about Tulpa and listening to an interview with director David Prior helped me to appreciate the film even more.
If I said in my previous review it's not a masterpiece I take it back. Like many excellent films and books, you need to experience it more than once to fully appreciate it.
Verdict: 4.5 / 5 ★ - Excellent!
