🪞 31 Spooky Movies of Halloween: The Empty Man (2020)
Have you ever watched a movie that felt like it was actively trying to crush your soul with dread? Congratulations, you’ve met The Empty Man.
This film starts out strong — a creepy prologue in the mountains that feels like the beginning of something epic — and then… keeps going. And going. And going. What begins as a supernatural mystery slowly morphs into an existential endurance test.
Based loosely (and I mean loosely) on the Boom! Studios comic, The Empty Man follows a grieving ex-cop investigating the disappearance of a girl who may have fallen under the influence of a mysterious urban legend. The premise has promise — the performances are solid, and the atmosphere drips with unease — but the movie just doesn’t know when to quit. It’s like a magic trick where you can see the wires, and it still goes on for two more hours.
That said, it’s not all bad. There are moments of true brilliance buried in the gloom: the cult sequences are unnervingly well done, the sound design is haunting, and there’s an oppressive sense of cosmic horror that actually works. The problem is that those great bits are surrounded by endless stretches of whispering, staring, and walking in slow motion.
It’s a slow burn, sure — but it’s one of those slow burns where you’re just left holding the match, wondering when it’s going to light.
🎬 Tune in to see:
🪞 Existential horror disguised as an urban legend
😱 An atmosphere thick enough to choke on
💀 A whole lot of dread… maybe too much
⏳ The longest two hours you’ll ever spend in a theater
The Empty Man has fans, and I get why. It’s ambitious, weird, and aiming for something much deeper than your average horror flick. But for me, it’s a little too hollow — appropriately enough, I guess.
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