★★★
After hearing a young boy's cry for help, a sister and brother venture into a vast field of tall grass in Kansas but soon discover there may be no way out...and that something evil lurks within.
Classification: 15
Atmospheric and daunting, the tranquillity of the tall grass lures one in with its whispers and faint movements in the winds, however just like it's characters too much time In the Tall Grass lends one to too much repetition and waiting for a reprieve. Director Vincenzo Natali successfully adapts Stephen King's novella keeping audiences guessing what the secrets of the labyrinth are, as sequences of characters desperately searching for one another build the dread. After the first act which keeps a terrific pace of sustaining an eerie tension of the unescapable, the helpless feeling that no matter how close you may be to someone, you are taken further away. Natali and his production team are able to have the location feel different yet identical in every frame, capturing the futile efforts of the characters trying to navigate their way back to each other, each turn feeling like a dog chasing its tail. Even with this sense of helplessness, the mystery of In the Tall Grass becomes quite clear after a point and the tension begins to deflate the longer the film goes on despite the exuberant performance from Patrick Wilson.
Natali does keep the film engaging but certain points feel like he doesn't have enough story to maintain a feature-length narrative. While the character's entrapment is both terrifying and compelling in the first thirty minutes, it begins to lose its effect in the next thirty after that because of the film's supernatural elements becoming glaringly obvious before Natali wishes to reveal them. In the Tall Grass doesn't have much in the way of exposition mostly using vague imagery and dialogue to reveal the motivation of the antagonist but Natali taps into the fear of the unknown as the film never gives proper answers for why the characters are trapped in the tall grass. A recurring motif of Stephen King's stories is how he reveals the horror lurking behind the image of classic Americana, the fields of Kansas are no exception as it becomes a prison forcing the characters to face their histories and secrets with each other. Main characters Becky and Cal, siblings who are travelling to the west coast to give up Becky's expected child, Travis the father of the said child who enters the tall grass in search of them, and the Humboldt family consisting of Tobin, Ross, and Natalie, the classic nuclear family.
The performances of In the Tall Grass make up for the lacking mystery as the journey of Becky, Cal, and Travis slowly discovering the danger they are in allows for scenes of humanity and horror. The script may go for some obvious story beats at times but Natali creates a great inverse of expectations just as King does with his vision of American lifestyles. Harrison Gilbertson as Travis unexpectedly becomes the hero of the film despite being introduced as a deadbeat boyfriend who let Becky down, whereas the All-American family man Ross Humboldt played by Patrick Wilson is the one who becomes corrupted by the evils within the grass and begins to hunt those left inside including his own family. Laysla De Oliveira is able to crank up the terror with her vulnerable performance as her pregnancy always has an aspect of extra danger for her but Patrick Wilson is the one who gives the film its best moments. Wilson plays Ross as a chipper go-getter, not letting being seamlessly trapped within an endless field from deterring him from his goals. He loves his wife, he loves his son despite his tendency by getting distracted by work but there is something sinister beneath him. Its that kindness blended into the madness that gives Wilson such a presence against his co-stars, while the rest of the characters are driven by fear and confusion, Wilson is always in complete control.
Wilson's performance is exemplified by how Vincenzo Natali and cinematographer Craig Wrobleski make the very environment feel like a character itself. Whether bathed by sun or moonlight the grass moves against the wind in a haunting manner, while the wide shots display the breadth of their influence its the close-ups of just the leaves fluttering that show their hypnotic nature. Natali may never explain what the evils are at the centre of the fields but it's clear that the influences are not just isolated to Ross Humboldt, using the very cries of its victims to lure new prey into its hidden clutches. The cinematography in general works very well, as mentioned before always keeping the location fresh and vibrant where it would be a danger to fall into monotony. Wrobleski creates a genuine unease from the most mundane of locations but also thrives when the more monstrous elements of In the Tall Grass are released.
Despite its flaws In the Tall Grass is still a riveting horror thriller because of its atmospheric cinematography and Patrick Wilson's performance. Even though the secrets of the story are easy to guess as soon as clues are given it is still an engaging one, it's just frustrating that Natali would continue to drag out these reveals and place so much stock on them to make the film exciting. Wilson is a great adrenaline shot into the proceedings but even his scenes can begin to feel the slog of feeling that same. This sense of repetitiveness feels unavoidable when the plot revolves around characters trapped in an endless cycle of walking through a field but Vincenzo Natali does enough to keep the whole experience from feeling monotonous.
Director: #VincenzoNatali
Cast: #HarrisonGilbertson, #LayslaDeOliveira, #AveryWhitted, #WillBuieJr, #PatrickWilson, #RachelWilson
Release Date: October 4th 2019
Available exclusively on Netflix
Trailer:
Written review copyright ©CoreyBullochReviews
Images and Synopsis from the Internet Movie Database
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