If you want to watch a scary thriller film that will make you think, I do not recommend In the Tall Grass directed by Vincenzo Natali, unless you are ready to watch a cult thriller that has too many plot points that don’t intersect well. 

It focuses on a field of tall grass that makes the characters get lost once they step in. The characters could be heard close by and then heard as extremely far away without moving a step. The grass was controlled by a large rock in the middle of the field and if the characters touched it, all their sins would be washed away.

The film has a similar take as Children of the Corn did with using children and religious ceremonies in a field. Except this film failed to give any context or answer as to why this random rock has spiritual powers as well as what it grants to the people who touch it.

What made this film different from most thriller or horror films is that a lot of the film is shot during the daytime. The daylight worked up to a point, but it does hinder the audience from staying in suspense as most horror films set their scenes, where the scary parts of the film are in the dark.

The director utilized all parts of the day for the purpose of thrilling the audience. What also made the film have that creepy feel were the transitions and dutch angle shots. Each transition closed up on a certain part of the grass or eye of some character and then switched fast to a different scene, which had the audience on edge.

The dutch angle shot used had the camera turn 360 degrees to create a creepy otherworldly feel to the scene. This type of shot is used in many thrillers or horror films, so you can expect to see this type of shot in other films like this. Even at the start of the film, a zoomed in version of the character is shown to already put the audience on the edge of their seats.

I did appreciate that the cast was mostly unknown. This does help the audience escape into this world the director created. This allows the film to become more believable as the characters seem to actually be in this certain situation. It makes the horror or thriller more entertaining and dramatic, but also allows the audience to not see an actor or actress they love be maimed or killed horrifically.

After seeing this film, I would give it a 2/5. This is because, yes, the transitions were great and the use of mostly unknown actors and actresses was a great idea, but the concept of the film was just really hard to understand. The parts that were meant to be thrilling just grossed me out and also didn’t make a lot of sense.