Year: 2016
Country: USA
Alternate Titles: Customer 152
Genre: Supernatural
Plot:
Forced into a state of bankruptcy, a young man living in his old house unexpectedly receives a mysterious credit card in the mail and starts to use it to turn his life around, but when he can’t pay the balance suddenly finds a group of mysterious men in business following him which turns his life upside down more than he expected.
Review:
This one was quite an intriguing if flawed effort. When this one works, it brings about some great work with the atmosphere of desperation that falls on him the deeper he gets in the ensuing situation. That setup, however contrived and hokey, creates a really impressive backdrop that lets the slowly-creeping appearance of the strange Tall Men appearing around the outskirts of his life have a profound effect on his sanity, where he becomes freaked out by the burgeoning conspiracy against him. As that coincides with their appearance and the repo scene, which is one of the more brutal and enjoyable scenes in the film where the figures arrive and begin to wipe out his friends before they torture him in graphic manners, is where the film comes into its own, and when added together to the wholly impressive and immersive feel that keeps this one interesting provides enough to like to make it watchable.
There are some problems with the film. One of the biggest issues is the fact that there's very little about the pacing and general tempo of the film that really serves this one with any form of positive attributes. The fact that the entire production, from the acting style to the atmosphere of the world around everyone and just let the scenes breathe with the extended running time featured for this one all manage to make this one last way too long for its own good. The extended running time is easily explained away by the various overlong sequences here that don't serve this one at all, making for a much longer experience here with the scenes in the employment office, going through the early stages of him getting the friends involved in his situation and the general discovery that he’s been duped by the company and forced to participate in their special retrieval process that carries this through into the second half.
The other problem with this one is that there’s nothing tying the story together as for what’s going on. The extended running time fails to include any kind of rationale as to why the whole situation starts up in the first place, seemingly showing a random series of events to get him into the state of needing money. That he never questions where the card came from or how he got through the approval process which is completely unbelievable by itself but also never manages to tell how the corporation work as for what their purpose is in sending this mystical card to people that can’t afford it only to send out the equally mysterious beings to harvest the individual they know can’t do anything about the situation. This continuous circle of questionable logic doesn’t really have an answer and leaves the film too chaotic and aimless, making for a somewhat lowered experience.
Overview: **/5
The pacing here won't be for everyone and has some big issues overall with some problematic areas, but overall it's hypnotic atmosphere and creepiness has some positive attributes. This is more for those that enjoy the kind of epic tempo or looking for this slow-burn style of genre effort, while those that don't appreciate that in any form should avoid altogether.
Tall Men Official Trailer from Chronicle Factory on Vimeo.
Comments
Post a Comment