The Tall Man Directed by: Pascal Laugier Starring: Jessica Biel, Jodelle Ferland, Stephen McHattie Rating: R Release Date: August 31, 2012
TRAILER SCORE: 5/10
Thoughts by TSR: This trailer is peppered with things that are fairly effective, but so much of it is generic and forgettable. “Our town has been dead for six years” is certainly a decent hook to kick things off. And then the drawing the girl shows Jessica Biel’s character is sort of creepy. The song used in the trailer’s latter half is creepy and moody as well, but none of the stuff in the middle does a whole lot for me. Still, missing children is an inherently creepy premise. If the eventual reveal of the Tall Man works, then the more generic "mother searching for her child" stuff might go down easier. I’m just not holding out much hope.
Jessica Biel seems perfectly adequate in what looks to be a fairly stock role, but she’s not really the draw. The big selling point here is writer/director Pascal Laugier. He directed the brutal Martyrs, and I’ve been interested to see what he does next. It was always going to be hard to live up to that film. Unfortunately, this doesn’t look to be on the same level. I don’t need this to be as disturbing as that one – indeed, it would probably be best if it’s not – but I just wish it didn’t look so bland. The Martyrs connection has me hopeful that there is a lot more to The Tall Man than the trailer seems to indicate, but this first look at Laugier’s English-language debut doesn’t instill me with much confidence.