Once writer and director Pascal Laugier burst onto the scene with his feature-length debut Martyrs – which proved to be every bit as controversial as it was popular among genre fans – it was only a matter of time before he was recruited to make his Hollywood debut. It may have taken four years, but The Tall Man finally arrived in 2012… and died a horrendous critical and commercial death.
Respective Rotten Tomatoes scores of 43 and 38 percent aren’t exactly out of the ordinary for a fairly inexpensive slasher, but a high concept spooky tale with a recognizable star in the lead role utterly imploding at the box office definitely is. Even though it wasn’t a bank-breaker at a cost of $18 million, The Tall Man barely made it past $5 million in ticket sales, hinting that horror may not be as unstoppably bulletproof as many had been led to believe.
Jessica Biel agreed to star in the movie because she was such a huge fan of Laugier’s previous feature, a decision she may have come to regret given that she ended up caked in dirt and mud for the sole purpose of taking top billing in a tepid misfire that suffered an ignominious fate among paying customers.
The actress stars as a mother who finds her young son the victim of an abduction, with urban myths and legends pointing to an ominous and eerie figure known as the Tall Man. Naturally, there’s more to the story than that, something Netflix subscribers have been discovering firsthand after the entirely forgettable flick found its way onto the streamer’s most-watched rankings, per FlixPatrol.
Horror is guaranteed to score a slam dunk on-demand regardless of its reputation, even if it took The Tall Man a decade and change to find renewed relevance.
