The Empty Man - October 23rd 2020

[levcore]

Isn't this based on a series of graphic novels? Not sure it qualifies as an original horror movie.

[rooboy78]

Originally Posted by levcore

Isn't this based on a series of graphic novels? Not sure it qualifies as an original horror movie.

True, it is, however I don’t know how much of the story from the graphic novels is used here beyond the legend/folklore of the Empty Man as a character. From what I can find it seems the characters in the movie may be original and were written into a story using the Empty Man. Either way, as a graphic novel it’s not a well known property so it still presents itself as fresh original material to me and something different than what we usually get.

[VictoryAtNight]

Wow, I like that intro in the mountains. This movie was really good and worth buying!

If redbox was selling the DVD for $4, I’d buy it just so I can watch it again.

[rooboy78]

Originally Posted by VictoryAtNight

Wow, I like that intro in the mountains. This movie was really good and worth buying!

If redbox was selling the DVD for $4, I’d buy it just so I can watch it again.

I bought the digital (and I will admit the picture quality is fantastic) but as a lover and collector of physical media I’m super bummed this didn’t get a Blu-ray release!

[Chaotic]

Impressive that a 137 min major studio horror movie only has 1 jump scare.

[Jennifer Lawrence Fan]

Originally Posted by Chaotic

Impressive that a 137 min major studio horror movie only has 1 jump scare.

Might be why it was thrown away or Disney just didn't care and put it in few or many (when a lot was closed/locked down) and blamed that for bad returns

[BluCollector13]

Rented this from Redbox yesterday; watched it tonight.

Once they ditched the teenagers, it became a little more interesting, but that was already an hour in with another seventy to go. Ultimately, my big issue is that it's too many conflicting ideas and films in one with any real payoff being so few and far between, especially where the climax and its motivation is concerned.

I'd give it 3 out of 5.

[rooboy78]

Originally Posted by BluCollector13

Rented this from Redbox yesterday; watched it tonight.

Once they ditched the teenagers, it became a little more interesting, but that was already an hour in with another seventy to go. Ultimately, my big issue is that it's too many conflicting ideas and films in one with any real payoff being so few and far between, especially where the climax and its motivation is concerned.

I'd give it 3 out of 5.

The teenagers really only had one main scene in the middle of the movie so I’m not quite sure what your point is with that argument. It didn’t follow them at all.

[BluCollector13]

Originally Posted by rooboy78

The teenagers really only had one main scene in the middle of the movie so I’m not quite sure what your point is with that argument. It didn’t follow them at all.

I brought the sequence with the teens up because, besides the marketing making it the sole focus of the advertising, it was a very generic sequence that ultimately added nothing to the movie other than re-explaining the already paper thin mythos of the Empty Man that had already been established with the twenty minute prologue. It could have been cut and nothing would have been lost. Others will disagree, but that's my opinion on it.

[Creed]

Originally Posted by BluCollector13

I brought the sequence with the teens up because, besides the marketing making it the sole focus of the advertising, it was a very generic sequence that ultimately added nothing to the movie other than re-explaining the already paper thin mythos of the Empty Man that had already been established with the twenty minute prologue. It could have been cut and nothing would have been lost. Others will disagree, but that's my opinion on it.

It did unnecessarily extend the runtime.

[CrazyBlu-RayFan]

Originally Posted by rooboy78

True, it is, however I don’t know how much of the story from the graphic novels is used here beyond the legend/folklore of the Empty Man as a character. From what I can find it seems the characters in the movie may be original and were written into a story using the Empty Man. Either way, as a graphic novel it’s not a well known property so it still presents itself as fresh original material to me and something different than what we usually get.

I read the comic and I can tell you, 98% of this movie is not from the comic at all, this is an "in name only" adaptation. Here's are the few similarities:

"The Empty Man Made Me Do It" message written on the mirror (but different context)

Missing persons case (but completely differently handled, in the comic it was two missing kids whose parents died being infected by The Empty Man)

A cult about The Empty Man (again, with many differences)

An comatose man being the source of The Empty Man (again, handled very differently)

That's it. The 3 days stuff wasn't in the comic, the detective being a host created by the cult wasn't in the comic, the character development or story wasn't from the comic, and they didn't even make The Empty Man a global pandemic like in the comic that eventually leads into borderline apocalypse territory. And I'm just tackling the surface of how different the movie is from the comic.

[BluCollector13]

Originally Posted by CrazyBlu-RayFan

I read the comic and I can tell you, 98% of this movie is not from the comic at all, this is an "in name only" adaptation. Here's are the few similarities:

"The Empty Man Made Me Do It" message written on the mirror (but different context)

Missing persons case (but completely differently handled, in the comic it was two missing kids whose parents died being infected by The Empty Man)

A cult about The Empty Man (again, with many differences)

An comatose man being the source of The Empty Man (again, handled very differently)

That's it. The 3 days stuff wasn't in the comic, the detective being a host created by the cult wasn't in the comic, the character development or story wasn't from the comic, and they didn't even make The Empty Man a global pandemic like in the comic that eventually leads into borderline apocalypse territory. And I'm just tackling the surface of how different the movie is from the comic.

YEESH. I'm kind of intrigued to read the graphic novel if the film really took that many liberties with the source material.

[CrazyBlu-RayFan]

Originally Posted by BluCollector13

YEESH. I'm kind of intrigued to read the graphic novel if the film really took that many liberties with the source material.

If you are interested make sure you get the following for the full story:

The Empty Man

The Empty Man Recurrence

The Empty Man Manifestation

[rooboy78]

Originally Posted by BluCollector13

I brought the sequence with the teens up because, besides the marketing making it the sole focus of the advertising, it was a very generic sequence that ultimately added nothing to the movie other than re-explaining the already paper thin mythos of the Empty Man that had already been established with the twenty minute prologue. It could have been cut and nothing would have been lost. Others will disagree, but that's my opinion on it.

I can understand your point. I actually found the bridge scene to be one of the most effectively creepy and unnerving scenes in the movie and the follow-up discovery under the bridge later was chilling and really stuck with me.

[Lacrymosa]

This movie really surprised me when I watched it back in October. I haven't read the source material, but it was creepy, had great performances, a eerie score, plus it gets pretty bizarre and I love films with cults. And those first 25 minutes are excellent. While I can admit the rest doesn't quite live up to that, it definitely kept me intrigued the whole time.

I'm disappointed it's not getting a physical release - perhaps in another country from Disney the way they have done their 3D titles outside of North America. I bought a 4K digital copy from Google Play, but I really do hate having just a digital copy.

I could be wrong, and time will tell, but I think this film will be appreciated more as time goes on, maybe not become popular, but I think it will find an audience over time.

[HotRats]

Pretty good, kind of a Mothman Prophecies mood to it, but it's let down by the excessive length. Could easily have lost half an hour just by trimming the fat from pretty much every scene and would have been much better for it

[MikeScott]

This started very promising. If I hadn't already heard that it did I may have thought I was in for a pleasant surprise. I still hoped maybe I would be but unfortunately the rest of the movie can't live up to it. It's still decent for a little bit but once it starts getting into the cult storyline it got kind of muddled and boring and pretty much stays that way the rest of the movie. I honestly don't think I'd cut anything from it but you definitely feel the runtime.

Anyway while it didn't work for me on a whole it's surprisingly not terrible. Like was already mentioned I do agree it could have a bit of a cult following one day.

5/10 ( C )

[VictoryAtNight]

DVD disc is currently for sale @ redbox for $10. It will probably take up to 8 weeks for it to drop to the sweet price of $3.99.