IN THE TALL GRASS (2019)
a review by Evan Landon
Like I said in my recent review of 1408, Stephen King's film adaptations are very much “hit” or “miss” and I can definitely see why In The Tall Grass can be just as divisive. Thankfully, I don't have anyone with money or clout to sway my personal opinion in any sort of way, so I will give this one an honest take. At the request of a friend, of course ;). But, that's why we're all here. . Right?
In The Tall Grass is a 2019 horror film based off of a novella written by Stephen King & his son, Joe Hill (not Jonah Hill, suhr), that they wrote together back in the year of our lord, 2012. The story is probably the most simplest premise I have covered in this almanac of reviews collected: a group of strangers wander into a field of tall grass, in the middle of nowhere, after being beckoned by voices of others to help. Thusly, they enter the field and find themselves lost as well. The problem is that every one of them is locked in a maze that neither time, reality, nor reason exists. Simple, right? Well. . Some of these characters have been locked in this damned maze for so long that they don't even act like themselves, nor their past selves, so there is no one to trust.
Through some of the most imaginative display of images, director Vincenzo Natali is able to make even a walk through the grass itself seem menacing without the viewer even aware of a story written by Stephen King, and his son. In a strange way, this story is very much about family and how it's dynamics parabolically shift when placed under certain duress. Even when introduced to certain characters, they are all stuck in this maze that could be an earlier or later version of themselves, and no true characteristics can distinguish between the two.
Now, without spoiling the movie for anybody, there are some very antiquated themes that arise like: an abandoned church where everyone stuck in the maze has parked their cars, cell phones almost revolt against anyone who would use them, and even one's life could pass for another's to give it life. It's these little things that allow the viewer to remember that the theme of this film is not the grass itself, but the characters that inhabit it.
“I know. . You're thinking, if you just turned left instead of right, you could've gotten away from me. But you did go left, & then you turned right, & then you kept running, & didn't turn at all. But in here, in this garden of forking paths, you didn't make any one choice, you made every choice. . & all of them led back to me.”
Chilling shit. Even though they did take a few liberties with the novella, just like Mikael Håfström did in 1408, this sort of thing is necessary to fill the run time. Director Vincenzo Natali is also an extremely amazing director to not just drag you into this world of misdirection and uncertainty, but leave the audience rooting for it's characters and forever feeling engrossed in a fantastic and grueling world. The grass itself is beautiful and terrifying at every turn, almost as if it tethers the most horrifying aspects of being lost in a maze. If you read my review of Natali's first film, CUBE (1997), you will see that I really enjoy this man's work. This one is no different.
I would be remiss not to bring up the multitude of religious undertones that occur and sometimes derail the plot, but since King, Hill, and Natali all wrote the screenplay together, it had to be absolutely agreed upon before filming even began. King has always had that in his stories though, this one is absolutely no different in that case. But this ending is much more of a conclusion than the open-ended one left at the end of the short story. There are some flaws in logic that can be overlooked because of what kind of story it is, but that is the one glaring issue for me. Even if this review does not serve to entice you to watch it, remember, “Do NOT go in the tall grass. . !”
Also, Patrick Wilson has an incredible singing voice, in case you did not know that, because I certainly fucking didn't.
4.5 Out Of 5