In the Tall Grass
2019 · Directed by Vincenzo Natali
Original language: English
- horror
The story
After hearing a child screaming for help from the green depths of a vast field of tall grass, Becky, a pregnant woman, and Cal, her brother, park their car near a mysterious abandoned church and enter the field, discovering that they are not alone and, for some reason, they are unable to escape a completely inextricable vegetable labyrinth.
What it’s like
Sun-bleached greens and a sky that never seems to move, with the camera drifting low through waist-high grass until the frame feels like it's closing in. The disorientation comes from restless tracking shots and sudden overhead angles that make the field read as a maze, while the rural Midwest interiors and a decaying church sit in flat, washed-out daylight. Mark Korven's score leans on dissonant strings, low drones and the rustle of stalks, so silence in the field feels more threatening than sound. The pace is steady dread: long stretches of wandering and rising unease, broken by abrupt, sharp shocks. Its mood is claustrophobic and uneasy, with a tense sibling bond at its core. Violence is present and occasionally brutal, including a sudden death and some graphic injuries, but it is shown in short bursts rather than sustained gore, and there is body-horror unease around the pregnancy. It suits a late-night watch for viewers who want atmosphere and a creeping, unsettling strangeness, not something gentle or cozy.
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