The Horror Movie saga: In the Tall Grass

I really don’t know if it’s a coincidence that I watched two Stephen King adaptations in a row, as it wasn’t me choosing the film, but if ‘It’ is up soon then maybe I’ll start asking questions. Like Gerald’s Game, the film found freedom in a limited setting. I often find that horror is the most artful movie genre, as it is constantly finding new ways to get to you, there is usually very little tolerance for filler. So, it is ironic and admirable that Stephen King enjoys the challenge of shrinking the possibilities further.

My premonition that this film might actually creep me out was spotting the casting of Patrick Wilson, who is assigned horror roles very liberally, and it cannot be overlooked that he really is a perfect horror actor. Someone that can play the role of a comforting protagonist and a chilling antagonist so effectively has rarely caught my attention, so I’ll get it out of the way early that his performance was the standout. A special mention to the child actor that portrayed a similar level of character flexibility, at such a young age, his role wasn’t side-lined, and he smashed it.

You may be able to tell already that I am huge fan of the concept in this film, which put simply, was a claustrophobic maze of tall grass that had eerie quirks rooted into it. It is difficult to tell how much input was drawn from the novel and how much from the producer, but the details and twists in the plot were revealed very nicely.

My main criticism of the film is that it somewhat revoked its subtlety with some unnecessary CGI at points, something many films fall into which I personally think can ruin the tone. Another disappointment was that there wasn’t too much utilisation of darkness, which could have allowed for some shapes and your imagination to deepen that fear. Again, this is personal preference only.

Whilst I am unsure how much of the grade awards credit to the writing and how much the filmmaking, the reviews didn’t reflect the enjoyment for me

Rating: 7/10