The horror genre has flourished in recent years, as seen by the overwhelmingly positive Rotten Tomatoes ratings of several movies.
Terrifier 2 (2022) was one of these films; it went viral, received a whopping 86% on Rotten Tomatoes, and was said to have caused viewers to pass out and spew up during screenings.
Now, audiences are responding to another film in a similarly spectacular way.
The film, which made its theatrical debut in May 2022, received favorable reviews from critics and left audiences feeling genuinely “traumatized.”
A lot of folks who saw it in theaters say it’s so unsettling that some had to leave because they were unable to continue watching.
“On my life, I have never seen multiple people walk out of a theatre before. If I had the opportunity to capture my face in the last act I would because I have no words to describe it,” one person writes.
“Almost threw up during the final scenes but wow,” a second writes.
A third, however, acknowledges that they “had to leave halfway through.”
“Hands down the scariest thing I’ve ever sat through. I’m scared I’ll have permanent psychological damage after it lol,” another horror fan jokes.
Someone else expresses it was ‘the most disturbing thing I’ve watched/experienced in a long while.’
After seeing it, someone else merely says they’ll “never sleep again.”
The renowned horror stars Rory Kinnear from No Time To Die and Judy actor Jessie Buckley.
Renowned for his work on Ex Machina and Annihilation, Alex Garland wrote and directed the production, which features a star-studded cast both on and off-screen.
The film is also produced by A24, the company behind some of the most highly regarded horror movies in the past few years, including Hereditary, Tusk, Midsommar, and The Lighthouse.
According to Box Office Mojo, it brought in a startling $11.2 million globally after bringing in $7.6 million in the US and Canada and $3.6 million in foreign regions.
Writer and director Garland, in an interview with the British Film Institute, refers to the film as a “folk horror movie,” loosely based on Robin Hardy’s 1973 Wicker Man.
Since its premiere, the film has received praise from audiences beyond the horror genre.
Additionally, critics have been praising the film,
It is described as “riveting,” “menacing,” and “an unconventional genre standout” by David Rooney of The Hollywood Reporter.
It is described as a “visually gorgeous, heady, deeply unsettling horror film” by Michael O’Sullivan of The Washington Post, and as “an immersive, disturbing, eerie, and incredibly off-putting film that will disturb you all the way up till its jaw-dropping finale” by Zach Pope, a YouTube reviewer. “It’s vividly layered from its writing to its direction. I’m shocked.”
The movie was listed as one of the “Best Films of 2022” by Jonathan Rosenbaum of the La International Cinéfila Poll.
Lead actress Jessie Buckley commented to The Independent on the reaction to the movie, saying, “I like the extremes of opinion it’s going to instill in people. At a screening of the film the night before, I noticed nervous laughter at scenes that I found more disturbing than funny.”
“I think different responses depend a lot on what people bring to the film, and how open they are to a film like this. You need to allow it to ruminate and sit with you.”
The movie centers on a widow who, upon her husband’s death, flees to the country.
But as soon as she gets there, something doesn’t feel quite right.
Rory Kinnear portrays an unpleasant presence that includes the local police, the vicar of a nearby church, the landlord of the house she is renting, and random bystanders.
“What begins as simmering dread becomes a fully-formed nightmare, inhabited by her darkest memories and fears in visionary filmmaker Alex Garland’s […] feverish, shape-shifting new horror film,” the article on A24 states.
You can watch Men on Amazon Prime right now.
