Right. So after a small 4 year absence, we're back at it again with a blog style type movie review thing. Here we are in 2022. Pandemic still tippy toeing around in the shadows in some places, gas and food prices reaching new highs, and good horror movies still in short supply. Though it's only fair to say that 'good' is a pretty subjective word, as the viewer decides what makes any movie or show good. What might make me adore something might make you abhor it.
With that little aside out of the way, I'll just start off by saying that this movie was different. It was good, but it was not your normal, run of the mill, everyday movie goer fare. Without completely pilfering a South Park joke here, be ready to see some things. Genitals to be exact, of varying shapes, sizes, and types.
Honestly, to make it easier, here's a list that might help.
Don't go see Men if:
You are faint of heart, mind, or constitution.
You dislike wieners.
You dislike gore.
You require finality. (More later)
You require movies with bombastic soundtracks and explosive high action sequences.
OK, so the premise of this movie is that our protagonist has just experienced a great loss in the form of the death of a spouse. To try to cleanse herself and to get away from the hustle and bustle of London for a bit, she takes a solo vacation into the British countryside for 2 weeks. Great set up so far. I likes. I likes. I am also not surprised at all that I was the only person in the theater on opening night. Had there been other people there, certain sections might have been wayyyyyy more awkward. aaaaand..... Trailer!
The first thing I noticed was this sort of sense of background dread and tension. There was very little music throughout most of the runtime, unless it was really needed and added something, so the silence almost became a character of it's own, building this tension throughout. Also, the setting was gorgeous. You've never seen so much green and purple and blue as is expressed in this version of the rolling hills of rural Brittan. It's really all just a facade though, as strange things start to happen and the story kicks into gear.
Not going to ruin anything for anyone from a plot standpoint, but my big takeaways are that the attention to detail, the oddness of the story, and the narrative openness do the movie credit. It doesn't hurt that the last 20 minutes were absolutely bonkers, nuts, wild, and confusing.
Overall, I thought it was great. It was inventive, visceral, and above all else, something different. The last thing we need is another Conjuring or Paranormal Activity movie to muddy the waters and incite people to tell me how those movies are amazing cinematic experiences. They're not visually compelling and thought provoking like Men. It will receive the highly coveted full shoebox of 5 out of 5, even with the influx of wieners. Give me more weird and unusual, because when I go home, I want to be thinking. Whether I'm thinking about the themes or metaphors of what just finished, or whether I'm thinking 'the f*ck was that?', I want to be thinking. Far too often, people rely on others to tell them what to say, think and feel, and with the added variety that A24 continually brings to the scene, I think that in 2022, even with 8 Conjuring movies in play with 2 more on the way, horror is in an OK place.
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