The Empty Man
Directed by David Prior
- horror
- mystery
- thriller
The story
On the trail of a missing girl, an ex-cop comes across a secretive group attempting to summon a terrifying supernatural entity.
What it’s like
Cold, desaturated daylight and drab interiors give way to murky blue night, with long, drifting takes that keep a viewer waiting for something to step into the frame. The Empty Man, directed by David Prior from his own comic, leans on fractured, nonlinear editing, shadowy woodland, a dim hospital corridor and a lightless cave, all rendered in muted greys and bruised greens that feel damp and unsettled. Sound design does much of the work: low drones, sudden silences and distorted whispers hover at the edge of hearing, with little conventional score to tell you how to feel. The pacing is slow and deliberately disorienting, building a creeping sense of paranoia as an ex-cop's search for a missing girl slides into something unnervingly occult. Its tone is bleak, eerie and ambiguous, closer to dread than jump-scare thrills, and the arc follows a haunted man sinking deeper into a secret he cannot shake. Violence is occasional and sometimes brutal, with some gory imagery and disturbing deaths, and the fear is more psychological than gratuitous. It suits a late, alone viewing for people who enjoy slow-burn mystery horror and don't mind an unresolved, uneasy ending.
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