In the Tall Grass is a 2019 Canadian supernatural horror drama film written and directed by Vincenzo Natali. The movie is starring Laysla De Oliveira, Avery Whitted, Patrick Wilson and Will Buie Jr. Below is my In the Tall Grass (2019) movie review.
It revolves about a brother and sister who go into a deep grass field after hearing a cry for help from a little kid only to discover there is no way to get out. That’s pretty much it in terms of the entire plot. It doesn’t get more complicated and it doesn’t get more fun than people walking through tall grass, yelling each other’s names, and overall just running in circles and getting more and more upset they can’t find the exit.
To be honest, I like both Stephen King and his son Joe Hill. They write some great stories, especially King. However, this was not one of the stories that should have been adopted. Since not much happens in it, it can be produced on a very low budget. However, it doesn’t need to be almost two hours long when nothing happens in it. There was a point of about 20 min in the movie where some things happen, but it is not enough to save the movie. Besides, those scenes don’t add much to the movie besides coming off as just the ramblings of a madman. I wanted to be scared or experience some form of entertainment, but I ended up glancing at my phone a lot (something that I am extremely against whenever I am watching a movie).
The actors and the actress did a solid job. Even the little kid was good – coming off as scared and not too annoying. Patrick Wilson was also good in a role that we don’t get to see him do often, but he was really boring. The villain in the movie, if you can say the movie had one, was as boring as it can get. It was like watching a serial killer movie where it turns out the villain was abused as a kid so he hates society because of his upbringing. That is not either interesting or good enough to set you apart from a laundry list of other similar movies.
There was no motivation, no buildup, no payoff, and nothing solid to make the movie great. However, the above shots were cool as it gives us this sense that the grass is alive and always shifting and changing itself and those trapped within it.
Also, the artifact, the thing featured throughout the movie is not explained at all. It is mentioned it is is old and it is powerful. Based on the look of it, an average movie goer would be able to deduce that. I guess the director thought we wouldn’t get it. Here are some of the themes mentioned in the movie that never got fully developed; strange artifact, rape, murders, insanity, cult following, evil entities, miscarriage, and fear of the unknown. All slightly touched upon but quickly dropped like it never mattered.
Overall not worth the 100+ minutes. Some scenes were well developed and filmed in a scenic way, but most are boring. I couldn’t figure out what I was supposed to scared of.
Thanks for reading my In the Tall Grass (2019) movie review
