{"id":33890,"date":"2020-10-06T09:15:28","date_gmt":"2020-10-06T13:15:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/?p=33890"},"modified":"2020-10-06T09:15:28","modified_gmt":"2020-10-06T13:15:28","slug":"in-the-tall-grass-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.cinema-crazed.com\/blog\/2020\/10\/06\/in-the-tall-grass-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"In the Tall Grass (2019)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>The problem with Vincenzo Natali\u2019s \u201cIn the Tall Grass\u201d is that it sets up so many questions and ideas, but never executes them well enough. \u201cIn the Tall Grass\u201d feels very much in the vein of Stephen King\u2019s \u201cChildren of the Corn\u201d where a massive field of innocuous grass becomes the sight of a supernatural gathering. King and Joe Hill are very good about creating terror out of domesticity, and for the first thirty minutes Vincenzo Natali\u2019s film had me hooked. Then it just about runs out of steam with too many undercooked concepts and never quite won me back.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

When siblings Becky and Cal hear the cries of a young boy lost within a field of tall grass, they venture in to rescue him, only to become ensnared themselves by a sinister force that quickly disorients and separates them. Cut off from the world and unable to escape the field’s tightening grip, they soon discover that the only thing worse than getting lost is being found.<\/p>\n

I was very fascinated with the plays on time and looping of the present and the future. There is also a lot of plays on fate, and feelings of the grandiose in the face of an unseen force, but so much of it is underdeveloped. What begins as a really eerie and creepy narrative involving a somewhat omnipotent field of very tall grass descends in to an ugly, an often confusing slog in to just pure absurdity. After the first half of Natali\u2019s treatment of King and Joe Hill\u2019s narrative, much of what unfolds just doesn\u2019t make a lot of sense.<\/p>\n

There are implications of a whole cult of people living within the grass, hints at a church that worshiped the tall grass, and characters begin to pop up suddenly. Nothing is ever really explored or developed beyond these mere introductions and inexplicable overtones about incest and abortion that never amount to anything worthwhile. Despite the narrative occasionally meandering to explore the apparent source of this benevolent tall grass, \u201cIn the Tall Grass\u201d pretty much drags its feet to the finish line. It\u2019s a muddled, tedious, and unpleasant horror tale that not even Patrick Wilson can save.<\/p>\n

Streaming exclusively on Netflix.<\/strong><\/p>\n