Say
what you will about the cult kids in Children
of the Corn, but at least they reaped bountiful harvests. In contrast,
nothing productive will come from this evil stretch of grassland. Once wayward
motorists enter, they can never find their way out in Vicenzo Natali’s In the Tall Grass, an adaptation of
Stephen King & Joe Hill’s novella, which premieres today on Netflix.
Stephen
King fanatics should note this takes place in Kansas, instead of his
mini-Midwest world, encompassing Gatlin and Hemingford Home, Nebraska, but the
scenery and sinister goings-on are not all that different. Kansas is a long,
flat state to drive through, but grown siblings Becky (the pregnant one) and
Cal DeMuth will still regret pulling over near a strange church. Hearing young
Tobin Humboldt’s cries for help, they venture into the field, where they
quickly find themselves lost and separated.
Apparently,
young Humboldt has been in that grassy labyrinth for quite a while. One of
those dusty cars parked in front of the church belongs to his parents, who are
also trapped inside (evidently all those abandoned vehicles arouse no interest
in the Highway Patrol). Tobin is a little weird, but he has some useful
information for Cal when they stumble across each other, like the field never
moves dead things. However, his father Ross just radiates bad vibes when Becky
encounters him. Meanwhile, Travis McKean follows his long missing girlfriend
Becky down that lonesome stretch of highway and into the tall grass.
Netflix’s
previous King films were quite good, especially the terrific Gerald’s Game, so it is disappointing Tall Grass does not measure up to their
standard. The set-up is reasonably intriguing, but as time and reality start to
warp, the film loses any semblance of internal logic. The degree to which the
film unequivocally equates Evangelical Christianity with primeval sacrificial
death cults is also slightly churlish, even by King’s standards. Regardless,
the frequency at which things start appearing just to dislodge the road-blocked
narrative, like the bowling alley in the middle of nowhere, is conspicuously
problematic.
Brazilian
thesp Laysla De Oliveira, Avery Whitted, and Harrison Gilbertson are all pretty
believable and compelling as the DeMuths and McKean, respectively.
Unfortunately, Patrick Wilson seems to be playing Ross Humboldt like a reprise
of his role in the notoriously strident and universally panned The Ledge, which is not a winning
strategy. Weirdly, Will Buie Jr. is sometimes quite creepy as Tobin, but other
times he seems innocent and vulnerable—and it is unclear whether these tonal
shifts are intentional or accidental.
As
the film goes on and on, viewers are likely to feel like they too are trapped
in a remote Kansas field without exit. Evidently, this is Natali’s thing,
having previously helmed the thematically similar Cube and the excellent horror film, Haunter, which was also distinguished by its keen atmosphere of
claustrophobia. That is the better film to stream, or even the original Children of the Corn. Not recommended, In the Tall Grass launches today (10/4)
on Netflix.
