The Empty Man and Vicious Fun - both of these sound pretty good
Posted by
prayformojo (aka mayhem)
May 25 '22, 13:24
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According to legend, here’s how to summon the Empty Man: Go to a bridge after dark, and if you find a bottle, blow into it and think about him. He’ll eventually find you, and get you.
After a group of high schoolers do just that, they unleash a force that terrorizes a former cop (James Badge Dale) and his neighbor (Marin Ireland), whose daughter goes missing after, you guessed it, summoning the Empty Man. A bizarre cult of Empty Man disciples are giddy about what they hope will be chaos to come.
The film, loosely based on the graphic novel of the same name, is worth a watch even though it clocks in at a too-long 137 minutes. It will be a treat for fans who want to spend a night with a tub of popcorn while watching an atmospheric horror movie that burns as slowly as a candle the size of a tub of popcorn. The terrifying back story in the first 30 minutes is its own extra-creepy short film.
Stream “The Empty Man” on HBO Max.
I don’t think I’ve ever laughed out loud at a horror comedy. But I did — at one point gagging on a Dorito — as I watched Cody Calahan’s scrappy Canadian slasher about a smarty pants horror movie critic who unwittingly gets sucked into the drama at a self-help group for serial killers. Among the attendees is Bob (Ari Millen), a Patrick Bateman type, and Carrie (Amber Goldfarb), a slick murderess whose secret fuels the film’s blood-drenched action.
Most of the credit for almost choking me goes to Evan Marsh, the goofball actor who plays Joel, the writer for a Fangoria-like horror magazine. Marsh oozes Jonathan Groff-style, aw-shucks charm, and he’s a natural with cornball physical gags and goofball delivery. It is a winsome combination that brought to mind what a fellow Canadian funnyman, John Candy, might have done when faced with an evil clown clutching a syringe.
That’s good, because Marsh’s turn counteracts the otherwise cartoony performances that stand in the way of fleshing out this indie movie’s nifty, ’80s-inspired premise.
Stream “Vicious Fun” on Shudder.
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