Quartile rating: 6.5/10 · 1 rating
When her child goes missing, a mother looks to unravel the legend of the Tall Man, an entity who allegedly abducts children.
Pascal Laugier's English-language follow-up to Martyrs is a genuinely subversive thriller that pulls the rug out from under genre expectations. The plot twists the child-abduction horror premise into something far more morally complex and provocative than advertised, making it one of the more daring narrative pivots in modern genre cinema. Jessica Biel delivers a committed performance that carries the film through its tonal shifts. Cinematography is competent but unremarkable — Pacific Northwest moodiness done adequately. Novelty is high because Laugier smuggles a disturbing sociological critique into what appears to be a straightforward horror film, a genuinely distinctive authorial choice. The ending, while thematically bold, is divisive and somewhat unsatisfying in its execution, leaving threads unresolved in ways that feel more deflating than haunting.