4 out of 5

Director: Pascal Laugier

Man, what a puzzler. Poor Laugier – although his Martyrs was definitely championed by horror fans, it also faced an equal amount of backlash due to its bold approach. When The Tall Man trailers hit, I was worried. “House of Voices” is an uncomfortable film because it’s so layered, and so beautiful, but not mindful of its audience… and thus confusing, and thus, yeah, sorta boring at times. The french / english shooting style also makes it unfortunately campy at points. But Laugier’s ideas were there, and he got much better with pacing and style and focus for the brilliant “Martyrs.” But then “The Tall Man” trailers… It turns out it’s just a hard film to pitch. It’s not a thriller, it’s not horror. There are elements there, and Laugier has gotten even better with his composition – the film seamlessly swoops between dramatic and thriller elements without stumbling, and god bless his sparing use of gorgeous one-takes. Thematically, this is between “House” and “Martyrs.” I can’t quite give it five stars because Martyrs gives us the idea and lets us chew on it for a while, whereas “Tall Man” inserts it pretty late. It’s again a challenging topic, and there are some vague aspects to it that I’d be curious to pursue through another viewing, but I suspect that Laugier learned a lesson from Martyrs and so withheld jumping in feet first, actually building up to the “reveal” of his point. This probably doesn’t work for most viewers because the typical plot reveal happens fairly early… after that we’re just being led down a road of accepting the pitch of the concept. Beautiful score, expertly executed, but perhaps a bit too purposefully oblique.