Review of The Tall Man (2012) by Marcella W — 27 Sep 2012

At first, "The Tall Man" comes off as a film with a very intriguing and mysterious storyline - and for a short bit of time it is. But even though the film has moments of keeping its audience on their heels, the story soon falls flat and comes apart with a ludicrous amount of plot twists, a predictable denouement and absolutely dreadful pacing.

An isolated Washington village has fallen victim to poverty and even more horrifying, the town's children are disappearing one by one, giving birth to the legend of the "Tall Man," a mysterious being believed to be abducting them.

Julia Denning (Jessica Biel) finds herself in the middle of the chaos when her young child, David is taken from his bedroom. Driven by love and compassion, Julia sets of on a night long journey to track him down and save his life.

Without giving away too much of the plot - the moral of this story is actually really refreshing and does give off a very nice sympathetic message, which is why "The Tall Man" gets the extra half-star.

But Director, Pascal Laugier waits far too long to introduce this specific theme, making the ending seem very rushed and even kind of random. Jessica Biel is really the only actor worth mentioning in this film, and she doesn't even give that great of a performance.

Creepy horror-film girl, Jodelle Ferland (Silent Hill) finds herself becoming a staple in horror films, playing the all-too-familiar, trademark disturbed child, but she actually helps the random, rushed ending come together.

Unless you're a die-hard fan of the mystery-horror genre, or a proud supporter of Canadian films, I would opt to pass on this sub-par flick.